A Pirate's Life for Me
by azuresilver
Summary: There was once was a girl who sailed with the extaordinary Straw Hat Crew,she herself was a mystery posessing strength and knowledge that would assist Luffy and the Straw Hats to fulfill their dreams,as they help her fulfill hers OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone. This is my first One Piece Fan Fic! Hope u like it ****J**

Speech = "blah blah"

Thoughts = '_blah-de-blah'_

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She heard the sound of a cannon firing and put a hand on her katana. "Hn" '_It's not my problem anymore'_ she thought as she removed her hand from the handle. She went back to reading her menu. _'there better not be any trouble, I just got here... oh yep, here's trouble' _a marine officer barged through the doors of the restaurant and was seated at a table near her. She watched him sit down at the table next to hers with his lady friend from the corner of her eyes, face never moving from the menu. _Bloody Marines_ she thought as she saw the arrogant marine officer sit nearest to her.

"Look, it's Lieutenant Fullbody"

"Really? A lieutenant of the marines?"

"Wow, he looks good"

_'Ah, so that's Fullbody eh?' _she thought as she heard the whispers of the other patrons of the restaurant. _'Better keep an eye on him-'_ her thoughts were interrupted by a man, with blond hair wearing a tidy suit, taking her hand in his and kneeling down "Hello there my beauty" he said kindly as he stood up still holding her hand in his. "I am Sanji, the second chef of this restaurant. Are you ready to order?" She narrowed her eyes for a second before answering "Yes, the soup" she said, removing her hand from his, pointing to said item on the menu "as a starter and then this dish as a main please" she answered. He nodded as he memorised the order and went around behind her to pick up the menu leaning over her to do so. '_Ha, she thought, what a ladies' man'_ . She smiled to him in thanks and was taken aback by love hearts forming where his eyes used to be as he pranced off to give the order to the cooks.

She rolled her eyes as the marine officer tried showing off to his date. "Am I right waiter?" he asked smugly. "Not at all" came the reply. She recognised the voice to be that of her waiter and snorted at the marine's reaction to being told he was wrong. The marine then made up excuses as to why he was wrong about the wine which made her roll her eyes in annoyance.

Her food came swiftly, delivered by the waiter Sanji. He had also given her a rose and said "A beautiful rose for a beautiful lady, although it's not as beautiful as you" the flirtatious line made her blush slightly, she was not used to being called beautiful. He was going to continue when- "WAITER!" the marine hollered.

"I will return, my sweet" Sanji said swiftly as he went to the marine's table. "I told you I'm not a waiter" he then proceeded to sweet talk the marine's date. "Why is there an insect in my soup?" he pointed to the insect in question "What is this insect?"

"Insect? I don't understand because I am not an insect expert." The people who had herd were sent into fit of giggles, even she struggled to suppress a laugh. This did not go down with the marine too well and her brought his fist down onto the table sending his bowl flying off the table landing upside down on her head. The restaurant went silent. Everyone looked at her. She blinked a few times before her hand went up to her head and picked up the bowl. She looked at it wearily and the offending crockery burst into tiny pieces in her hands. The people around her cowered in their seats as she stood up from her own. "Where is the restroom?" she asked in a monotone sending chills around the room. A man gulped as he pointed to the direction of the restroom. "Thank you" she said simply as she walked in the direction shown.

As soon as she entered the restroom the atmosphere in the restaurant lightened slightly. A few people let out the breath they were holding.

~~~***~~~

She let out a sigh as she looked at her appearance in the mirror. She had taken off her black, fitted, knee length coat, which had been the most soiled, her katana in its sheath resting against the wall. Her eyes were almond shaped with amethyst irises. She had dark brown, almost black, wavy hair that went down to her waist and bangs that framed her heart shaped face. Her skin was smooth and slightly tanned from being out in the sun all the time. She wore a green and white, thin striped tank top, which hugged her figure, ending just above her belly button and black shorts that went down to her mid thigh. Her boots were black and ended just below her knee. She wore a dark green belt, which also held her katana, and had simple gold earrings in both ear lobes and a charm bracelet on her left wrist which was adorned with trinkets from her travels. Around her neck was a silver hunter case pocket watch necklace covered with intricate engravings. It was her most treasured possession given to her by her mother before she had died.

Taking one last look in the mirror she put her katana back into its rightful place, on her left hip, and picked up her now useless coat. Exiting the restroom she was faced with the weirdest sight: on one side of her the chefs were holding back a furious Sanji who was yelling at a cowering marine officer on the ground on her other side. Before she could respond to anything the ceiling was parted by the forms of two people coming crashing down in front of her. She winced as they hit the ground. The larger of the two got up and started yelling at the other who was wearing a straw hat. Wait... a straw hat? _'Straw... hat? Could it be?'_

"It's your fault, not mine!" the one with the hat yelled in a distinct voice. She stood frozen to the spot, eyes wide in shock. She had recognised it immediately. '_Luffy'._

SMACK "Ugh" Sanji was sent flying as a wooden leg hit him. She was rooted to the spot. _'What the hell is going on here?'_ the big man who has crashed through the roof rounded on the marine, "Get out of my restaurant now!" he yelled as he kicked him as well. _'What kind of chefs are these? I mean I knew they didn't take crap from anyone, but seriously!'_ she thought as she stared wide eyed at the chefs.

A marine came flying through the door "Sorry sir, but our captive has escaped from his cell!" '_My goodness. Where the hell am I?'_ the marine who had just came in was shot from behind. Her hand went immediately to her katana ready to use it. She watched as a man came walking through the doors and sat at a table _'Must be that captive then'. _The patrons of the restaurant were terrified. The unknown man ordered to be given food and when asked if he had money promptly pulled out his gun. "Do you want me to pay with a bullet?" he asked smugly. In an instant he was bashed into a table. There was a mix of shock and relief among the people in the floating restaurant. The man's stomach growled. He was starving. He was ruthlessly beaten and kicked out of the restaurant.

The commotion had died down and she slipped out of the restaurant to the balcony. She rested her hands on the railing and looked out to the horizon deep in thought. There was a grumble of a stomach and the clinking of a plate. She looked sideways and saw the poor, starving escaped criminal sitting on the ground shovelling food into his mouth. Sanji was sitting not too far away smoking a cigarette. She scoffed and walked over to him and ripped the cigarette from his mouth. He looked up angrily, "You know, smoking is bad for you" she said to him as his face turned from anger to shock and then to heart eyed. "Ahhh, my beauty!" he exclaimed standing up "I-"

"You're really cool! I want you to cook for us. Come join my crew". She stood transfixed to the spot. Her back was to him so he hadn't recognised her yet. Luffy came down to where they were standing and finally talked to her "Hey, you were the one I landed in front of before."

"Yes, that was indeed me" she replied not looking at him

"Anyway, join my crew!" he asked Sanji again. He refused and told them why, and how he had to stay on the floating restaurant "NO! I REFUSE!"

"what?" Sanji and her both said _'I forgot how stubborn he was'_ she thought as he continued pestering Sanji. They were both getting heated up so she decided to back away a few steps so as to not get caught in anything if they started fighting. The ex-captive butted in and asked Luffy what his goal was. Luffy replied confidently that he wanted to find One Piece. The criminal divulged into the story of how he and his crew had been to the Grand Line apart of a large crew and trying to discourage Luffy. He wouldn't have it.

The three of them soon fare welled the ex-criminal. "Hey kids!" they looked up and saw the head chef of the Baratie standing on an upper landing. "Sorry Sanji-san, I'm causing you trouble by eating your food" Sanji tossed the plate off into the sea "There's no evidence now, I won't get in trouble"

Luffy then turned to her "Do I know you?" he asked as he cocked his head to the side "you seem familiar"

"Ha! Luffy!" she said starting to smile "you don't remember me at all do you?" he sat there scratching his head thinking. She started the countdown _'3...2...1'_ .

"EH!!!!! YUZUKI??" he exclaimed.

She turned to him and smiled "How have you been Luffy?" he jumped down from the railing where he had been sitting and squished her in a giant hug "Ouch. Luffy. You're squishing me"

He let her go a big smile on his face "Sorry, forgot you didn't like that" he said still smiling.

"How long has it been Luffy? Six years?"

"Probably" he said shrugging "Now I'm a pirate and I'm getting a crew. I already got three others, and now I have a cook too" he said with a smile

"Oi, oi, oi. Don't include me, I didn't say I was joining you" Sanji cut in

"Servant! Get back to work" the head chef yelled at Luffy. He went back inside.

"Hey Yuzuki was it?"

"Yes"

"You know him?"

She smiled "Yes, I do. Ever since I could remember" and she went back inside the restaurant leaving Sanji outside in thought.

~~~***~~~

Yuzuki had been sitting at the table she was at earlier, still having not eaten anything since the previous time her meal was interrupted by that stupid marine officer Fullbody. She scowled at her growling tummy. She saw Luffy come out of the kitchen and waved at him. He didn't see her and she frowned a little bit.

"You!" Luffy exclaimed

"What's up servant?"

"I heard you have to work here for one year!"

"Can I change your pirate flag?" came the boisterous replies.

_'Hn, must be his crew'_ Yuziki thought. She was sitting at a table next to them.

"You're comfortably sitting and enjoying food while I'm suffering! DON'T YOU THINK THAT'S UNFAIR!" Luffy yelled at his 'nakama' if that was what you would call them.

"Unfair? But we have our rights" a guy with green hair said while she saw Luffy pick his nose and spike his drink. "This restaurant is very good. It seems fair don't you... Why don't you drink this yourself?!" he shoved the bogey spiked water down Luffy's throat while the other two laughed in mirth. The water splashed everywhere as Luffy thrashed around. "What are you doing!?" Luffy yelled at the green haired man while rolling around on the floor

"What about you, what the hell are you doing?" was his reply while the other two kept laughing.

"What the hell! You guys are so loud! And look at what you did!" Yuzuki exclaimed making them all turn towards her. She was drenched in water and had a murderous look in her eyes

"Ah, sorry!" Luffy said with a smile.

Yuzuki bent down and picked him up by the scruff of the neck. At this the green haired man put his hand on his Katana ready to attack. She ignored him and shook Luffy continuously "I just cleaned myself up from that bloody marine and here you go making me all messy again Luffy!"

"Sorry Yuzuki, sorry, sorry" he repeated his apology but she still shook him.

"Hey. Who are you?"

Yuzuki looked the green haired guy up and down and turned to Luffy "You gonna introduce me?" she asked him letting him go.

"Right. Yuzuki this is my crew, Zoro, Nami and Usopp" Luffy introduced pointing to each of the people as he said their name "Guys this is Yuzuki!" they all said hello and she was about to sit at the table with the three when Sanji came up to Nami and started doing heart eyes at her. Then he saw Yuzuki and ran around to do the same to her earning a scowl form the green haired one, Zoro.

Luffy had gone back to work and Sanji was dragged away from their table leaving the four in peace. Yuzuki decided to interrogate Luffy's crew to see what kind of people they were.

"So you're Roronoa Zoro right?" she asked.

He had his hands behind in head leaning backwards on the chair with his eyes closed "Hn? Yea" he opened one eye to look at her when he answered.

"So why are you with Luffy?" she prodded. He looked at her sceptically and told her how he and Luffy met and how Luffy had helped him escape and their fight with Captain Morgan. _'Well Morgan was such an imbecile. He got what he deserved' _she thought to herself as Zoro finished the story. She then turned to Nami and Usopp and asked them the same to which they replied their own story of how they met Luffy and how he helped them out. _'Still the same ay Luffy'_ she smiled as she thanked them for their insight and started to eat with the others.

"So Yuzuki-chan, how do you know Luffy?" Nami asked sweetly. Yuzuki stopped mid chewing and looked up to see them all looking at her. She finished her mouthful and answered "Well, you see" she started, scratching the back of her head, smiling "he's sorta my brother"

"NANI!?" all three hah their eyes bulging out of their heads

"He's what?"

"Your brother?"

"Hahaha. Your faces" she laughed hysterically doubling over "Man you haha, you, should've seen haha, seen your, haha, your faces, when I said that hahaha" it took her a while to calm down. The three gave her scowls as she continued to giggle a little. "But seriously, he is my big brother" she continued, not laughing this time. They all turned to look at her. "He isn't my real brother, but he acted like one none the less." Her tone changed "And he's not even that much bigger than me! Only by like a few months and he still made me call him onii-san while he called me Yuzuki" she pouted at this sending the three into fits of giggles. Yuzuki tried to put on an offended and angered face but failed and joined in laughing with them.

An argument broke out between Sanji and the head chef. The four at the table listened along with the rest of the patrons. _'Seems like no one gets a peaceful meal at this place'_ Yuzuki thought amused.

"Everyone here doesn't like you and I think you know that. Therefore I think you should get out of here and become a pirate or whatever you want." The head chef said with no sympathy

"What are you talking about you crazy old man?" Sanji said angrily grabbing his collar

"How dare you hold my collar you little brat!" the chef yelled punching him and sending him flying into a table.

"Dammit." Sanji muttered before he got up and yelled "I don't care how many times you tell me to leave, I'm staying here! You got a problem with that? I will stay here till you die!" he yelled at the retreating form of the chef.

"That's good, you got permission from the owner, so you can become part of my crew now" Luffy said happily

"Who wants to?" Sanji yelled in Luffy's face before dashing off to treat Nami to some dessert and wine.

With this Usopp complained loudly "What about us? This is unfair, gallant chef" Yuzuki and Zoro didn't really care though

"I've ordered you a tea and you're unsatisfied? Asshole" Sanji said through his teeth

"What? You want a fight? Beat him up Zoro!"

"Do it yourself" replied Zoro drinking his Sake

_'Trust Luffy to come up with a crew like this'_ thought Yuzuki smiling.

"Would you guys stop fighting for me?" Yuzuki asked sweetly

"Yes ma'am" Sanji replied obediently and bounced towards her. Usopp just had an angry and shocked look on his face. Sanji came up behind her and offered her the same as Nami. She accepted and with heart eyes he went over to Nami. "By the way mister chef" she asked

"Yes ma'am" she replied with goo goo eyes

"The food here is quite expensive for me so..."

"Don't worry! It's on the house for you" cried Sanji as Nami hugged him

"I'm so happy, thank you"

_'I guess you swindled you way out of that one Nami, from what you told me you're quite the sneaky one'_

Sanji turned to Usopp "But you still have to pay" he said in an unkind tone and walked away to greet new patrons.

Luffy was sitting next to Yuzuki drinking tea when Sanji's food came atop of his head and he dragged him off to work. _'It's been a while since I've had this much fun'_ Yuzuki thought happily.

"So, your joining the crew?" Usopp questioned her. Yuzuki cocked her head to the side putting her hand under her chin and thought about it. _'Hmm, should I?'_ "Uh, maybe, well I gotta ask Luffy first, he may not even want me in his crew"

"You use a katana?" Zoro questioned as he finally spied the katana at her hip.

"Hn? Oh yea, well sort of, it's not only a katana though"

"Eh? What do you mean not only a katana?"

"You'll see" she said giving him a wink.

~~**~~

A day had gone by and Luffy and his crew were still on the Baratie. Yuzuki had asked Luffy that morning if she was allowed to join the crew to which he agreed with no hesitation. She had been told by him that Zoro was the crew's swordsman, Nami was the navigator and Usopp was the gunner (and liar), they had in turn been informed, by Luffy, that she was to be the crew's strategist. When she was a child she would always beat everyone in strategy games even when they were two or more times older than her.

She had spent the day getting to know Zoro, Nami and Usopp, the latter two giving her advice that she shouldn't get to know Zoro too much because he was 'scary' as they had put it. Being the strategist Yuzuki had grasped everyone's strengths, weaknesses and fears and felt that come any situation she could determine a good strategy.

~~**~~

"Hey Yuzuki?" Luffy and Yuzuki where the only two up, the rest had gone to sleep, "Why are you here? Why did you want to join me?"

"You should know why Onii-san" they were lying on the deck of the Merry Go heads next to each other.

"Hmm but I want to hear it from you" he whined

"Gosh Luffy, you still whine like a baby" she said smirking. He turned to her and showed her his cheesy smile. He smile disappeared as she turned to look at the sky again "If I tell you, you can't tell anyone, not yet anyway. You have to promise Luffy. You can't go blabbing it about. Promise me Luffy"

"Naw, okay Yuziki, I promise"

~~**~~

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**How did you like it... good I hope :) tell me what you think, even if it's just a smiley face (or an angry one...), I would really appreciate it!**

**"We Are!"**


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope you liked the last chap, haven't gotten any reviews yet, makes me sad :( hopefully this chap gets some reviews... But thanks to Art-sama and DancingSushi for favoriting!!**

**Any way on with the story**

**Oh yea, forgot to say last time - I do not own One Piece (unfortunately :( , oh well)**

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Yuzuki was lying on the top of the Going Merry*. She had had enough, at the moment, of the constant 'excitement' that was the Baratie and just wanted to relax. _'The air feels foreboding' _she thought to herself.

Nami was on deck with Johnny and Yosaku. Yuzuki could hear them talking but chose to ignore what they were talking about, her thoughts instead on the conversation she had had with Luffy.

"_If I tell you, you can't tell anyone, not yet anyway. You have to promise Luffy. You can't go blabbing it about. Promise me Luffy"_

"_Naw, okay Yuzuki, I promise" Luffy said with a little pout that make Yuzuki giggle a bit._

"_Well when I left Fuschia" 'Well more like taken' she added to herself in an afterthought "I was taken to the Marine Headquarters, they were interested in my powers. You remember what they are right Onii-san?"_

"_Eh?" Luffy said, a bit confused. Yuzuki rolled her eyes "Oh yea, they were weird"_

"_Yea, and I still don't forgive you guys for calling me a freak! I'm so gonna get you both back for that" Yuzuki said trying to be angry with him but started laughing at the look on Luffy's face that confused, apologetic and amused all at the same time. "Anyway, they were interested in it and made me train, a lot. And Grandpa being there didn't help, you know how he is" Luffy grimaced a little at the mention of "Grandpa" "Let me tell you, it was a hard four years, I've never been so pushed to my limits, even with all that training he made us do when we were little. Then all the criticism and discrimination form the other marines, it was so hard Onii-san both physically and mentally" she struggled to bite back tears 'I'm not gonna cry in front of Luffy'_

Two splashes caused her to snap out of her thoughts _'Now what are they doing' _she was quite annoyed at the disruption but went back to relaxing. When the ship started to move she decided to check what was going on, Luffy wasn't about to leave the Baratie without the chef and he still had that debt to pay, so they shouldn't be sailing yet. She hopped down to the deck where Nami, Johnny and Yosaku were. Before her feet hit the deck, without warning something collided with her body sending her flying over the railing of the ship and into the water. _'Shit!'_she thought as she flew through the air. The last thing she saw before she hit the water was a smirking Nami.

"And that's how Nami-sempai left us" finished Johnny

Zoro and Usopp were in a rage. "Wait, I can still see the ship" said Luffy, bringing the two out of their angry status. "What about your boat?" he asked the two bounty hunters.

"Just leave her. There is no reason to follow" Zoro said irritated angering Usopp again "But that ship is important!"

"I want her to be out navigator" Luffy said determinedly

"Okay, jeez, you give me a headache. Let's go Usopp"

"What about you Luffy?" Usopp questioned

"I'll stay here, I don't want to owe them" he replied, jerking hi thumb in the direction of the floating restaurant. "Where is Yuzuki-chan?" Luffy asked in a sudden afterthought to no one in particular.

"Eh? She said that she was going to rest on the ship today" Usopp answered him turning around _'And probably to get away from these stupid cooks'_

"She might have gotten thrown off like we were, we heard another splash just as we got out of the water, she should be here by now" said Yosaku

"NANI!" Luffy yelled eyes wide "She can't swim!"

"EH!" the four males were shocked "She can't swim?!" they all said in unison

"Captain Kreig! It's him! The man who destroyed our ships!" yelled a pirate form the smashed up ship sending their whole crew in a panic.

"The 'Hawk Eyes'?" Zoro wondered aloud. A coffin-like boat floated out of the dust created by the ship being cleaved in half. Its eerie green fires illuminated a man sitting peacefully in the centre, his hat covering his eyes, with a heap at his feet. "Why did you follow us?" a brave crew man asked the intimidating man.

"I just want to kill time" he replied lazily.

"Stop insulting us!" he screamed while pointing his gun and shooting without mercy. The swordsman unsheathed his sword at the same time as grabbing the heap at his feet. He easily deflected the bullets and threw the heap on to what remained of the deck. "No matter how many times you try you will miss. He uses his swords to change the direction of the bullets" Zoro said simply as the heap landed at his feet. He looked down "Oi Luffy, I found Yuzuki" he yelled over to Luffy as he picked her unconscious form up and moved her to the side out of harms way. "Why don't you fight me, your free right?" he asked Hawk Eyes. "The ultimate power" he muttered to himself while tying his bandanna onto his head.

"Hey, this is not a good time, our ship is almost out of sight!" Usopp exclaimed. Luffy was relieved that Yuzuki was alright and continued to watch the proceedings.

"I feel sorry for you, weakling" Mihawk said as he disembarked his ship to stand in front of Zoro. He pulled out a small knife to fight Zoro. He didn't falter as he attacked the greatest swordsman but his attack was blocked easily by the small knife. Everyone was shocked, he used a small knife to block every one of Zoro's attacks.

'_Can't I ever get a normal day?'_Yuzuki thought. _'Damn Nami pushing me into the water. I'm gonna... hey wait a second...'_ Yuzuki's eyes shot open and she blinked a few times, hand going to her forehead. '_What the hell?'_ she thought as she saw a group of men near her staring at something she couldn't see. She sat up "What are you guys looking at?" she asked before following their gazes to where two men were locked in intense combat. _'Shit. What the hell is he doing here? And he's fighting Zoro too, crap'_ . Her vision started to blur around the edges and she started to feel light headed _'Are you serious? Not now!' _She quickly reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a small medicine bottle as the pains started in her head. She flicked the lid off, quickly took one of the tablets and swallowed it. Instantly she felt a bit better and stood up to survey the situation now she was clearheaded. Zoro was still locked in battle and it look to her as though he was in trouble, Luffy, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku were watching the fight from the restaurant along with the chefs. Yuzuki, herself, was on a completely destroyed ship with, what looked like, a fearful crew. She knew what they were scared about, it wasn't everyday you could see a Shichibukai, let alone watch them fight. Her brain started working, how were they going to get out of this? She started chewing on her lip trying to think of something quickly, looking over worriedly at Zoro _'I don't think he can last much longer'_. She barely heard Johnny and Yosaku yelling at Zoro and Luffy holding them back.

Suddenly time seamed to go slowly for Yuzuki and she screamed as Mihawk's knife slipped through Zoro's defence and imbedded itself in him. "That's called losing"

"That's why I can't step back" croaked Zoro as he stood his ground. Yuzuki looked at him in awe _'Amazing'_ "If I had to lose, I'd rather die" _'He's choosing to die rather than live with any regrets'_ she thought

"Tell me your name kid" Mihawk said as he removed the knife from Zoro's chest.

"Roronoah Zoro" he said, getting his next attack ready

"I'll remember that. I haven't met someone with such a strong will like yours for a while" he said flicking his eyes to Yuzuki for not even a second, something that could only have been seen by a few who were fast enough. He unsheathed his black sword from his back.

"He's using the sword that destroyed the ship" yelled the crew of the destroyed ship. Mihawk surged forwards to attack Zoro who was preparing his secret technique. There was yelling all around Yuzuki, but she stood frozen to the spot. Zoro and Mihawk were facing opposite directions "I lost" Zoro mumbled as his hand swords crumbled and he sheathed his mouth sword. Mihawk came swiftly from behind as Zoro quickly turned around "What are you doing?" Mihawk asked

"It's shameful for a swordsman to be hit from behind" he replied with a grin

"Splendid" and with that he slashed through Zoro's torso

"ZORO!" Screamed from Luffy, Yuzuki and Usopp at the same time as Johnny and Yosaku yelled "SEMPAI!" Sanjiwas shocked "Why?" he whispered "Is it too easy to give up your dream like that?" he yelled at Zoro. Yuzuki was already running towards Zoro as he started to fall backwards. She reached out and caught his shirt just before he fell into the water behind him. She pulled him close to her and gently lay him down to examine the extent of his injuries. She took in a sharp breath as she realised his injuries were deep.

Luffy had ignited a fight with Mihawkbut his punch was easily deflected and he ended up with his head stuck in the wood of the ship. "Don't worry, that kid is still alive" Yuzuki heard him tell Luffy which somewhat relieved her a little.

The three boys had bought the ship over to where she and Zoro were and they were carefully trying to get him on the boat. "It's still too early for you to die. My name is Juracule Mihawk! Discover your true self, the true world, become stronger! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top. Surpass this sword! Surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!" They had gotten Zoro on the boat. Yuzuki kneeled next to him and got the medical kit from Usopp to see what they had to use. "Sempai, say something" Johnny was saying frantically.

"Usopp, is Zoro alright?" Luffy yelled over at them.

"He's not dead, but he's unconscious" he replied shakily. Yuzuki ripped of the remains of Zoro's shirt to get easier access to the wound. Suddenly Zoro's hand grabbed hers to stop her and he lifted his sword up for Luffy and Mihawk to see. "Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy, can you hear me?" Zoro started

"Yea"

"I'm sorry for worrying you. If I can't become an invincible swordsman, you would be worried without me right? From now on I won't lose to anyone ever again" tears had started streaming down his face as he said this "Until I can defeat that man and become an invincible swordsman I won't lose again! Do you have any problems with that?"

"Nope" Luffy replied grinning

"Are you done now?" Yuzuki asked Zoro looking down at him. He smirked at her and she started his treatment. Usopp had taken control as ordered by Luffy and was guiding the boat in pursuit of the Going Merry. "We will bring back Nami for sure and then we can head to the Grand Line!" Yuzuki was frantically trying to wipe up the blood and put pressure on the wound at the same time as Johnny and Yosaku were yelling at the top of their lungs. "Sempai sempai!" a vein started to pop out of her head as they were frantically yelling at Zoro.

"Would you two shut up! It's not helping one bit with you two bloody yelling and screaming! I can't concentrate!" they shrank under her outburst "If you want to help" she said a bit softer "then do what I say" the nodded and started to help her treat Zoro.

"So that's where we are heading, Arlong Park" Johnny ended. Yuzuki had finished treating Zoro's wound and she and Usopp were listening to Johnny and Yosaku's story of what had happened on the Gong Merry earlier that day. Usopp went off somewhere while the others kept talking. "Never heard of Arlong before" she said in a thinking pose making the two bounty hunters fall over "How can you never have heard of them! They are the fiercest pirates in East Blue. The captain, Arlong, alone has a bounty of twenty million beli!" Yosaku exclaimed. "Well now that we know what's going on, someone should so tell Luffy and Sanji, if he has agreed to come with us" Usopp suggested as he came from the back of the ship and consequently missing the explanation of the dangers that lay ahead.

"Hey, don't look at me, I can't swim remember" Yuzuki said waving her hands in front of herself "And obviously Zoro can't" she said looking over at him.

"Well I'm not, since I'm the captain of this crew hahaha" Yuzuki hit him upside the head and he fell to the ground supporting a swell. "So, it's out of you two then" she said rounding on the two bounty hunters. They both gulped as she came towards them "whose it gonna be?" they both bickered at each other trying to decide who was to go inform Luffy, and possibly Sanji, of what was going on. Yuzuki sighed _'This is gonna take ages! Fine, we're doing it the hard way now..._' "Please Mr. bounty hunter-san" she said in her most seductive tone "could you swim to Luffyand tell him what's going on? I'll do anything" she gave them a wink which made both of them have nosebleeds. "EW! Gross!" she exclaimed punching them both in the head and walked away and sat down next to Zoro's unconscious form and checked his bandages.

"Okay, it's decided" Usopp exclaimed triumphantly making Yuzuki look up at the three men "You will go" he said pointing to Yosaku before pushing him into the water. Johnny's mouth dropped as his friend was pushed into the sea "Go tell Luffy now!" Usopp yelled as he waved at Yosaku bobbing in the sea.

Arlong Park was now in sight. Zoro was now conscious and sitting wit his back leaning against the wall as Yuzuki checked his bandages again making sure the stitches were holding as he moved. "First thing we have to do is find where Nami-sempai kept the ship" said Johnny as Yuzuki moved to the front of the ship looking for the Going Merry. "And then we'll cut her to pieces" said Zoro seriously making Yuzuki roll her eyes. "Are you crazy?" We don't have a clue about it and you want to kill her?!" yelled Usopp. "I see it! It's anchored over there" Yuzuki exclaimed as she turned to face the three men. She sweat dropped at the sight of Zoro being tied up to the ship and yelling about it. "Hn, strange" said Johnny looking at a map "She is anchored awfully close to Kokoyashi village" he finished pointing to the map

"Yosh! Leave it to me, I'll bring her back in no time" Usopp said proudly laughing

"If he knewabout Arlong park I don't think he would be laughing" Johnny muttered to Yuzuki who nodded in agreement.

"Let's go to the ship!" commanded Usopp

'_Who died and made him King?'_Yuzuki mused as she went to crouch down to make sure Zoro's wounds hadn't opened up

"What are you doing?" he yelled at her as she was about to leave "Untie me damn it!"

"Um... Well you're like that for a reason. You can't just talk about killing her when you don't know the full situation, you weren't even awake when Johnny told us what happened on the ship this morning" she said pointedly to him. Unbeknownst to them both Usopp and Johnny had spotted some mermen on the land they were just passing. Wanting to get out of there they changed the cause of the ship just as Yuzuki was going to get up and unfortunately for her she lost her balance and fell across Zoro's lap hitting her head on the ground knocking her unconscious. "What the crap are you doing?" Zoro yelled at Usopp.

"Shhhhhhh! Can't you see those damn mermen! They are probably with Arlong's crew! I got scared, what's wrong with that?!" he yelled. They heard splashes and saw the forms of two mermen coming towards the boat. "Now what are we gonna do?" the Usopp thought

"Untie me morons!" Zoro yelled at them

"Let's get out of here" Suggested Usopp ignoring Zoro

"I agree" said Johnny as they both vaulted over the side of the ship into the sea.

"Hey wait!" Zoro yelled as they went overboard. Unfortunately for them both the hit on Yuzuki's head had knocked her unconscious and the two were stuck. Zoro managed to get her off him so that she was lying face up in front of him "Oi! Wake up and untie me!" he yelled at her to no avail _'Damn it!'_ he thought as he prodded her with his foot.

"What do we have here?" one of them asked rhetorically.

"There's only an ugly guy and girl on board" said the other "Looks like they were abandoned"

"I guess you could say that" Zoro said trying to keep calm

"And this one's injured" said the merman looking at Zoro.

"I told you, I'm looking for a woman, damn fish bastards" Zoro said frustrated

"Um, Zoro, I don't think you should anger them" Yuzuki tried to calm him but he just stared at her angrily. They were both kneeling before Arlong with their hands bound and weapons removed. "Ho! An inferior human dares to speak to me as such? I will let this slide once because the small one is talking some sense into you." _'the small one?'_a vein poped in Yuzuki's head "Who the hell do you think your calling 'the small one'!? Stupid fish face!" she said angrily, loud enough for the few around her to hear, but not Arlong. She started to get up from her kneeling position before she was kicked by the merman guarding her sending her crashing towards the ground keeping his foot on top of her. This angered Zoro even more and he glared back at Arlong who continued with what he was saying, "We mermen are humans who have gained the special ability to breath under water and his makes us better and more evolved than you normal humans. Our strength is proof of that. Remember this: mermen are both God and creator. When you go against a merman, you go against God."

"I'm getting a little sick of that speech, Arlong" said Nami coming out form the building behind Arlong. Yuzuki and Zoro looked up at the voice of Nami and gasped as they saw her. "Of course, you are and exception Nami! Because you are a skilled navigator of Arlong. You'd better chart good maps for us"

"Navigator? Hey Nami, why are you with these guys?" Zoro asked. Yuzuki scoffed _'I can't believe this' _she thought as she glared at Nami. "What? Do you all know each other?" Arlong asked. Nami explained that they were her 'victims' and that she had made a lot of treasure from them. "So this is the real you?" Zoro asked.

"Yes. Surprised? I'm a pirate from the start, one of Arlong's crew" she said smugly. Arlong burst into laughter at the mention of them being her victims "She's a cold blooded witch. She has deceived others and stolen treasure with us as her back up" Nami froze as he said this. "Oh is that so? I never trusted her from the start. Even though she's a cutthroat, I wouldn't feel a thing for her" Zoro said with a slight grin playing on his face "I knew it all along. You never were the good person you claimed to be" he taunted her.

"That's good you know you have been tricked. Now get out of my sight, you irritate me" she said before Zoro smirked and pushed himself off the edge of the platform and into the water, hands still bound. "What are you doing, Zoro!" yelled Yuzuki from under the merman's foot looking over to where he jumped off from while all the other mermen were just as confused as she was. She was shocked to see Nami jump in after him resurfacing seconds later with Zoro. Yuzuki let out the breath she was holding when she saw him still conscious. "So you don't have the guts? You can't even let one human die in front of you"

'_Baka' _Yuzuki thought as Zoro continued "You should be faster next time idiot, I nearly drowned" he said before Nami's foot came crashing down on him. She picked him up to face him "Get me involved next time and you die! You have alot of bandages" She observed before punching him in the stomach. Yuzuki looked away when she did _'You better hope those wounds haven't reopened'_

"Hey what are we gonna do with them Nami?"

"Leave them here, I will deal with them later" said Nami emotionlessly. Another merman came through the doors to ArlongPark and gave the news of the long nose guy getting away _'Crap, they found Usopp'_. Arlong and his crew then left to take care of business in Kokoyashi village leaving Yuzuki and Zoro in a jail cell in the pirate's building.

"I can't believe you did that Zoro! You deserved the beating you got from Nami, if she hadn't then I would have given it to you myself!". They were sitting on opposite sides of the cell. "Well what about you? 'Don't anger them' is what you said and then you go ahead and do it" he said smirking at her. Yuzuki blushed a little and was glad she was far away from him so that he didn't see it. "What are you doing here?" she heard Zoro ask and turned to see Nami with their katana entering the cell. She cut their binds "Get out of here before Arlong returns" she said and left the two in the cell with unlocked doors. "Okay, split personality much?" Yuzuki muttered aloud thinking Zoro hadn't heard, she didn't see him smirk at her comment. "Let's go" he said as he left Yuzuki in the cell taking both katanawith him. "Hey! Give me back my katana!" she yelled running after him.

As soon as she made it outside Zoro had already finished off half the mermen that had remained at Arlong Park. "Hey, no fair" she wined as he beat down the last one. He smirked as he turned around to face her putting one of the mermen's shirt on leaving it unbuttoned. "You didn't use mine did you?" she asked

"Na, only needed one for these weaklings" he said smirking. She rolled her eyes at him as she walked towards him and snatched her katana off him before walking away from him to explore the surrounding area inside the park.

She had cooled off some steam and returned to where Zoro was sitting on Arlong's throne debating with himself "She told me to get out of here, but I promised Luffy I would bring her back. What the heck, this is so complicated!"

"Well I think the latter" Yuzuki spoke up as she neared him "Gotta listen to the captain after all, right?" she smiled.

"Yea, your right," he nodded as he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "I've been meaning to ask you" he started, eyes still closed, as she sat cross legged on the ground in front of him "Hm" she acknowledged "Well what did you mean when you said Luffy was sort of your brother?" he asked. There was a long pause as she thought and he cracked open an eye to see if she had heard his question. She wasn't looking at him, instead off into the distance. "Um, you don't..." he started before he was interrupted by her as she started to speak "When I was six I was brought to Luffy's home town by his grandfather. He had found me floating in the sea in a small dinghy. I was frail, sun burnt and starving. I don't remember much from then, but I've asked him about it and he has told me what he knows of my past. He didn't know how long I had been on the sea in the dinghy but he did know it was more than just a few days. Because of this I don't even know where I'm from. But he took me in and adopted me and Luffy treated me like his real sibling and looked after me. So even though he isn't my real brother, I still love him like one." She said looking up at him and smiling. Zoro was a little taken aback by her story but didn't show it and only nodded as she finished.

They sat in awkward silence until they heard some noises from the other side of the gate. "What's all that noise" Zoro asked rhetorically. He got up and walked towards where the noise was coming from Yuzuki following. They popped their heads over the wall and saw what looked like an octopus merman blowing a trumpet. "Excuse me, where you the one blowing the trumpet?" asked Yuzuki

"Ah! Who are you? Me? I'm Hachan. You can call me Hachi" the octopus merman replied

"Are you a merman too?" Zoro asked

"Yes, as you can see I'm an octopus merman. You are a human, right? Are you a marines or guests?" Hachi asked

'_Marine? Why would they be here?' _Yuzuki thought

"Guest?" Zoro asked looking at her. She nodded "I guess so" she whispered to him. "We are guests" he replied to Hachi's question. "But Arlong-san isn't here" Hachi pointed out

"No he's not" Zoro replied to the observation

"Do you know where he is?" Yuzuki asked quickly

"I heard there is a stranger with a long nose in the village." Zoro and Yuzuki looked at each other _'_Usopp' they both thought simultaneously and looked back at Hachi as he continued "We've already captured two guys. Now Arlong is trying to capture another in Kokoyashi village"

"How do you get to the village?" Zoro asked

"Jump in! You are a guest. I will take you there." Hachi said pointing at a pot in the water. Yuzuki and Zoro raised their eyebrows at each other but jumped over the wall anyway and hopped in the pot. "I hope this is not his plan to cook us or something" she whispered to Zoro who chuckled a little. The pot wasn't very bit so Yuzuki was pressed against Zoro's chest as they stood in the pot. She blushed slightly, she had never had male contact and interaction and was still had her innocence.

The trip from Arlong park was slightly awkward and ended quickly to Yuzuki's relief. "This is Kokoyahi village" the octopus merman said after they had both disembarked from the pot. "Arlong-san should be there"

"Thank-you Hachi-san" Yuzuki said politely

"You're welcome, please come again" Hachi said as he sped off

"What a weird merman" Zoro said under his breath. He turned to face the village "So that saw nose came to this village?"

"Don't worry about him yet" Yuzuki said coming up next to him "We gotta find Usopp first" Zoro nodded in agreement as they set off into the village

* * *

**Yay! Second chap done. What did you think? All reviews welcome :]**

***meaning where Nami's trees would later be planted**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Third chappie! Yay! Hope you all are liking it so far. Made a few changes to the 2****nd**** chap, mostly regarding spelling and a few things I didn't mention (like Zoro only using one sword to defeat all the mermen, its important for later) **

**Thanks to oni for the review**

**Enjoy :]**

* * *

Zoro and Yuzuki had been wondering around Kokoyashi Village looking for Usopp. Zoro had suggested that they split up so they could cover more ground. Yuzuki put her hand on the back of her neck and rubbed _'What the hell? It hurts. Weird, I haven't been hurt there before' _she shrugged it off as she kept walking down the street. There was a man sitting on a bench with a pinwheel his hat. He looked as if her knew what went on in the village and went over to him. "Excuse me, have you seen a guy with a long nose?" she asked using elaborate hand gestures to show the long nose she was looking for. The man stared at her "Well actually..." he was about to answer when a hand clamped around her wrist and roughly yanked her away. The man was left confused in the dust.

"Hey!" Yuzuki yelled as she was dragged along with Zoro "I was talking to that guy! You can just do that when someone's talking!"

"We just missed him. He was taken to Arlong Park" Zoro said as he dragged Yuzuki in the direction of said establishment. The trees whizzed by as they both ran as fast as they could to the mermen's base. "Hey. Do you. Hear. That?" Yuzuki puffed as she ran next to Zoro who had finally released her letting her run on her own.

"Huh? It sounded like an explosion. Never mind. We gotta get to Usopp or he will die!" He said easily, as though the running wasn't affecting him.

There was a rumbling sound and what sounded to Yuzuki like snapping trees. She turned to the direction of the sounds. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a ship came flying out of the trees towards them. Yuzuki dove to the side out of the path of the ship just in time. "Hey! Zoro!" she heard Luffy's voice as the ship sped past. She stood up and watched it as it crashed through more trees leaving a trail of destruction. "Hey Zoro, I think that was the others." She said, there was no answer from him. "Hey you don't need to ignore me!" she said looking around to where he should have been standing. There was no one there. _'Oh. He must not have been quick enough to get out of the way. Some swordsman he is'_ she thought as she ran off through the path of destruction caused by the ship.

"Where's Usopp and Johnny?" she heard Luffy say as she slowed down to stop where the ship had ended its destructive path. There were angry vibes coming from everyone except Luffy at this point. "I have to hurry" Zoro said as he stood to keep running. "Eh? What happened?" Luffy asked a little confused.

"He was captured by Arlong. They will kill him if we don't hurry" Yuzuki answered him making everyone turn to look at her, Sanji waved at her smiling but she ignored him. A yell made them all turn to a newcomer "He was already killed! You're too late"

'_You're kidding right? He can't have already been killed!' _Yuzuki thought as her eyes widened at the shocking revelation. If they thought that was a shock then what Jonny said next was devastating "He was killed! By Nami-Sempai!" Yuzuki gasped silently, she assumed everyone was thinking along the same lines as her. In a flash Luffy was at Johnny's throat "Say that again! If you don't tell me the truth then I'll beat you up!" he yelled.

"Stop it Niichan! It's not his fault right?" Yuzuki said softly next to him while tugging at his arm gently to try and make him let go of Johnny. At the same time Zoro was trying to pull him off from behind, Yosaku was standing transfixed to the side and Sanji stood behind Johnny. "Nami would never kill Usopp! We are friends!" he bellowed

"Who is your friend Luffy?" came a new voice. Everyone froze and looked to where the voice was coming from.

"Why are you asking? You are my friend, so I came to take you with us." Luffy answered putting a hand on his straw hat. "Friend? Don't make me laugh. All you need is for someone to give you a hand, am I right?" She retorted. Yuzuki narrowed her eyes at her "Nami-san! Do you remember me? Lets travel together" Sanji exclaimed.

"Get lost! Why do you have to make it more complicated?" Zoro yelled at Sanji

"What?! Don't you realise love is stronger than a mountain" Sanji yelled back. Yuzuki could feel the tension from the two. "Guys stop it. This is no time to be arguing amongst ourselves" she told them.

"Hai! Yuzuki-chan you're so right!" Sanji replied to her making her cringe at his words.

"I'm telling you, this is a evil-hearted woman! In order to get all the treasure from under her home town she joined Arlong and is willing to kill anyone! She's a cold blooded witch! She has tricked all of you! I saw her kill Usopp-sempai with my own eyes!" Johnny accused bringing everyone back to the situation at hand. Yuzuki saw a flash of hurt in Nami's eyes as Johnny talked, but is was gone as soon as it came and she doubted any of the boys noticed. _'She must have a reason, an ulterior motive. Why else would she have let Zoro and I go before? There's gotta be something else and I'm gonna find out'_ she thought to herself as Nami said "So what?You wanna seek revenge and kill me? Let me tell you something, Arlong really wants to kill Zoro and his friends because Zoro upset him. Even though you are as strong as a devil, you can't compare to the real devils!"

"Never mind about that" Zoro brushed her warning off "Where is Usopp?"

"Why don't you look at the bottom of the ocean?" she suggested

"Watch your mouth" Zoro said lowly while reaching for his katana.

"You too Idiot!" Sanji roared as he sent a kick towards him. It was stopped, however, by a katana still sheathed and he landed, standing, on two feet. Yuzuki had been standing in between the two and had to stop Sanji's kick or else have a foot in front of her face too close for comfort. Both of their eyes widened in shock, but it was cut short by the two starting to argue again. "What kind of swordsman would hit a lady?" Sanji said as though Yuzuki hadn't stopped his kick. "What? You better get out of my way. This isn't your business" Zoro yelled angrily back.

"Heh, ever since you lost in that shameful battle you've become a high tempered person" Sanji taunted. They were now standing directly in front of each other. "Huh?!" Zoro paused "Hey! Watch what you say! Or you can lose your head"

"Oh? You can do that in your current condition?" Sanji mocked

"Why you..."

"Hey, hey! You shouldn't fight each other in a situation like this" Johnny yelled at them. Yuzuki just rolled her eyes "Oi, knock it off for now alright" she told them "He's right, not now"

"I don't want outsiders to waste their lives here, if you want to fight get off the island. Don't you understand? The reason I became your friend was for the money. Now that you don't have anything I don't care about you anymore. I will give you back your ship. Just get out of here and find a new navigator and do whatever you want to do" said Nami. "Just get out of here! your starting to piss me off!" she yelled at them. Luffy and the others stood still her words still ringing in their ears. "Nami" Luffy started.

"Good bye" Nami said darkly. Luffy collapsed sending fear around the group "I am going to sleep here" he said lying on the ground and closing his eyes. Yuzuki slapped her hand to her head. "Sleep? At a time like this? And in the middle of the road too!?" Yosaku yelled at the sleeping Luffy

"I never thought of getting off this island and I don't care what happens here. Besides I feel a little sleepy now" he said with his eyes closed. "Wha...!?" there were simultaneous mouths dropping and hands slapping foreheads from his nakama. "Stop playing around! You will get killed!" no one moved "Fine! If you want to die then by all means stay" Nami screamed at his relaxed form and she stormed off.

Yuzuki let out a sigh and sat down on the ground near Luffy. _'This is going to be tough. If I know Luffy he's not going to give up that easy'_

"You are all very strange. What that witch said is right, Usopp-sempai has already died and Arlong is looking for you!"she heard someone say. The four boys were discussing things and it sounded as though the two bounty hunters wanted nothing to do with this island anymore. "There is no reason to stay on this island. And I believe in Johnny's word" said Yosaku.

"It's been very nice knowing you, even though it was only for a short time. We're gonna get going now because we don't want to get killed by Arlong" Johnny stated looking at Zoro as if asking for permission from their partner.

"I hope to see you again then" was all he said to them as they ran off.

'_This is boring!'_ Yuzuki thought as she shuffled around and rubbing the back of her neck. It had only been about five minutes since Nami had come to them. Sanji was sitting on her left against a tree trunk on the grass his arms resting on his bent legs, while Zoro sat cross legged on her right side near Luffy's head leaning on his katana. Yuzuki sat cross legged between them on the grass, her katana lying in front of her. She let out another deep breath subtlety letting the two men know that she was bored. "Yuzuki-hime!" Sanji wailed making her stare at him

"What's with the hime?" Yuzuki asked confused. He came closer to her and grabbed her hand "You're so cute when you're bored!" he said with hearts in his eyes again. Yuzuki blushed. "Aaah, you're so cute when you blush!" he yelled and she turned a deeper shade of red. "I... um..." she spluttered

"Oi, oi." Zoro said "Leave her alone Cook"

"Who asked you?" the hearts and smile promptly left his face leaving it serious as he addressed Zoro. Yuzuki took the opportunity to move away from him. She wasn't ready to be too close to men in that way yet, not with the life she just came from.

~~**~~

They were still waiting, Luffy hadn't woken up yet and they weren't sure what the plan was now. "Hey" Sanji broke the silence. Yuzuki, now sitting with Sanji on her right and closer to Zoro who was on her left, was looking at the sky and day dreaming . "Huh?" Zoro answered.

"Nami-san has already killed that long nosed man?" he asked sombrely

"Maybe. Even though she is small, I was once beaten up by her. Maybe she has already killed Usopp." He said grinning. Yuzuki snorted having heard what Zoro said about him being beaten up and he stared at her.

"Samll?" Sanji muttered.

"Oh! Isn't that Zoro and Yuzuki?" Yuzuki heard and she looked around to find where it was coming from. "This is so lucky, you guys didn't go to Arlong's" the voice said. Then her eyes went wide as she spotted Usopp running towards them. She smiled _'Thank goodness he isn't dead!'_ she thought. "Nami's breasts are not small!" came a yell and a foot from her right. "Are you only thinking of dirty things!?" came another yell from her left with a katana. She had squeezed her eyes shut and heard a groan from in front of her. Slowly opening her eyes she saw Sanji's foot and Zoro's katana and in between was the bruised and disfigured face of Usopp. "I'm alive. But I think I might die this time" he croaked from between the two.

Yuzuki shook her head smiling and nudged Luffy to get him to wake up "Hey Luffy, Usopp is back" she said quietly. At this Luffy jumped up and saw Usopp's newly injured face. "Usopp! Nami did this to you!?" he yelled grabbing Usopp while he was still in a daze.

"No, it's our fault" said Sanji pointing at Zoro

"Onl your fault" Zoro said with crossed arms. It didn't look like Luffy had heard.

"Luffy! You're here too?" Usopp said after finally snapping out of his daze.

"Yep" came the simple reply

"I'm here too" Sanji said waving

Usopp snapped his head around to face Sanji "I'll kill you someday." After everyone settled down Usopp told them what happened to him and how Nami had saved him "There must be a reason why she joined those mermen"

"I agree" Yuzuki said "I mean she must have an ulterior motive or something. Remember what Johnny said about her wanting to dig up treasure on the island? I mean you don't need to join a crew to do that do you? And you can't forget Zoro" she said looking at him "she untied us and let us out of that cell. Why would she do that if he was completely loyal to Arlong? There has to be something else"

"It's hopeless. You can't do anything to change Arlong's system" came a new voice.

"Nojiko" said Usopp

"Who's that?"Luffy asked pointing at her

"It's Nami's sister"

"Nami's sister? No wonder she'd so beautiful" Sanji exclaimed love hearts forming in his eyes again

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro asked

"Please, don't get involved in our business. I will tell you everything if you leave this island" Nojiko said to the group.

"I don't want to listen. I don't care about her past" Luffy said as he walked off down the road. Zoro took up Sanji's seat against the tree and Sanji sat on the grass both sitting the same way as before. "Don't you want to know about her past?" Usopp asked frantically

"Nope" came the short reply as Luffy kept walking

"He..." Nojiko started confused as Yuzuki sat on the grass out of arms length from Sanji rubbing her neck again.

"Don't worry about him, that's the way he is" said Zoro smirking "Tell us, we'll listen. But nothing's going to change" he then closed his eyes. "Then why are you sleeping?" she asked confused.

"You told her you would listen but you fall asleep before she even begins!?" Usopp snapped at Zoro

"That's why these people give Nami such a headache" Nojiko muttered to herself.

Nojiko started the story by telling them about their life eight years ago. She described Bellemere, their foster mother, and her and Nami's life with her. She told them about Nami's talent for map drawing even at a young age and how she was very talented. She explained how even though they were not blood related they were still a family. She recalled how Nami and Bellemere fought once and about Nami running away. Then how Nami was told of how Bellemere came to find the two of them and how she came to be their mother. Then about that fateful day when the pirates came and how they took control of the village. "They wanted 100,000 beli per adult and 50,000 Beli per child. Genzo told us to hide as the pirates came through the village taking the fees. We thought we were saved but then they spotted smoke form out house which wasn't in the village. Nami and I went back to the house to warn Bellemere, Arlong and the mermen got there first. Bellemere being an ex marine fought back but there were too many of them. We were stopped by the doctor saying that we needed to stay hidden. There was a scream from Bellemere Arlong broke her arm but Gen-san saved her. We only really had 100,000 Beli, enough for her, so if we had stayed hidden she could get off to hook. The pirates bought the fact that Bellemere had never been married nor had any children so she could have just paid 100,000 beli for herself. We were told we had to leave the island so that we would be safe but neither of us wanted to go, we wanted to stay with Bellemere. Then she reviled that the 100,000 beli was for Nami and I and that she had none for herself. We ran from our hiding place and into her arms. We never wanted to leave her, we wanted to stay a family. She asked if they would hurt us and they said that they wouldn't if she gave up her own life. The last thing she said was that she loved us before Arlong pulled the trigger. Then if that wasn't enough they found Nami's maps that she had drawn and took her with them. Gen-san tried to stop them but couldn't. Nami told everyone to stop because she didn't want anyone else to die. The villagers all fought to save her but the pirates just beat them down and took her with them." She described how the villagers wanted to fight the pirates and how when Nami came back they were all happy to see her safe but shocked to hear that she had joined their crew as map maker. Then she told them how Nami had said that she had joined Arlong on the promise that she could buy back the village from him and that she would do it alone.

"That was eight years ago. She hasn't cried since and she has never asked for help. She doesn't want to die like our mother" Nojiko finished

"She was ten years old and she decided to fight alone in that situation." Usopp stated

"Have you realised how much pain and suffering she has been through?" Nojiko said sadly

"The only way to save the village was to join with those that had killed her mother" Yuzuki said quietly

"I won't let any person who hurts Nami-san's feelings live peacefully" Sanji proclaimed jumping up only to be hit back down by Nojiko "Why did you do that for miss?" Sanji cried

"I came to tell you not to do anything stupid. If you get involved with Nami it will make the mermen suspicious of her and all the work she has done for the past eight years will be for nothing. I don't want you creating anymore trouble for her by hurting her feelings"

~~**~~

They had decided to find Luffy and walked in the direction he had gone. Not long after they came to the village Yuzuki and Zoro first came to and waited. The villagers had all gone off in a mob to Arlong Park and the only one left was a crying Nami on the ground. She started to stab her Arlong tattoo with a small dagger making Yuzuki cringe until she was stopped by Luffy. "Luffy, please help me" she whimpered as the tears streamed down her face.

"I will help you!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs. He put his hat on Nami's head and walked towards his nakama. He looked towards Yuzuki, she understood and ran towards Nami. "Let's go" he said darkly and the four men went.

Yuzuki was kneeling next to Nami. "Hey, it's alright now Nami-san." She said gently "Let's get you fixed up and then we can go make sure they don't too big of a mess right" she said smiling.

"I know you must hate me..." Nami started. Yuzuki cocked her head to the side. "For pushing you off the boat. I didn't know you couldn't swim. When I didn't see you come up I was a bit worried..." Yuzuki cut her off "I don't forgive you" she replied pouting "but don't worry about that for now" she said smiling as she helped Nami up. Nami directed her to the doctor's place and she bandaged her up. "There, that should be good. You shouldn't get and infection and it should be healed in no time" Yuzuki said as she finished treating her. "Is there any water around here?" she asked and Nami pointed to a pitcher of water on a nearby bench. Nami was puzzled as to why she wanted water but it was nothing to when she unsheathed her katana. Yuzuki held the hilt in her hand but there was no blade attached. Then she was confused even more as Yuzuki continued to pour water into the sheath of the katana. Resheathing the hilt Yuzuki turned to face a bewildered Nami "Oh, don't worry. You'll find out soon enough" she said with a wink "Let's go catch up with the others" she said grabbing Nami's hand, pulling her out of the building and towards Arlong Park.

~~**~~

Nami had told her to go on ahead. Yuzuki was practicality dragging her along and Nami wanted to walk on her own two feet so she had told her to go on ahead. Yuzuki dashed off apologising to Nami for leaving her alone. As she ran she tied her dark brown hair in a tight plat leaving the bangs free. Yuzuki arrived at Arlong park to see Usopp running away and one of the mermen chasing him. _'typical'_ she thought as she turned her attention to the battle raging in the compound. Luffy had his feet stuck in the ground and Zoro and Sanji were standing next to him _'What have I missed?'_ she thought dumbfounded. Luffy sent a punch at Arlong but he caught it. Arlong then proceeded to lift up the concrete in which Luffy's feet were embedded and held him up high. "Don't say he's going to..." she said aloud making those near her acknowledge her arrival the next second Luffy, concrete and all, was being tossed into the ocean. "Luffy!"she screamed as he hit the water sinking like a rock. Now she was pissed, _'No one tries to kill my brother and gets away with it'_ she thought angrily as she took a run up and catapulted herself over Johnny and Yosaku, who were 'guarding' the entrance to Arlong Park. "Three against two? That's hardly fair" she said landing next to Sanji who gave her a confuse look. "You do realise there are only two right? And what the hell are you doing here anyway!?" Zoro yelled at her "Na-uh" she said pointing at the entrance to the building "there is another one in there waiting to get you both when you're busy with these two" she said.

"Well, we have a smart one here" said the hidden merman as he came out form his hiding place "But we're still gonna defeat you" he said cockily. She faced a merman who was two heads taller than her. He had green skin and his hair was a darker green slicked back like a tail all the way down to his waist where it was wrapped around once like a belt. He had large muscles and his hands were webbed. He had a flat face with slits for his nose and razor sharp fangs protruding from his mouth. The green merman wore black pants and a purple, sleeveless, open vest shirt. "Heh. Nice Yuzuki, now there's one each" Zoro smirked. She smirked too as she unsheathed her katana and held it, fist down, in front of her. The handle was black and red while the guard was plain black. "What the hell is that?" he yelled at her after seeing the hilt with no blade attached.

"I told you before, this is no ordinary katana" she smirked. The Mermen laughed, "She's gonna fight with just that? You might as well give up now, that way you'll live!" he howled in laughter

"We'll see who's living after this" she replied as she stroked the hilt with her thumb and put pressure on the right points. Suddenly the hilt grew until it was almost the same length of a katana the guard in the middle. Blades grew out of both ends in a sickle shape and then the weapon split at the guard giving two scythe like weapons tethered with a black chain. She held one in each hand spinning the one in the right around like a windmill before smirking and throwing it at one of the mermen. He easily dodged and laughed "Is that all you got?" she smirked and gave the chain a jerk. The scythe flew straight towards the back of the merman and clipped his shoulder before she caught it. She chanced a glance around, Zoro and Sanji were engrossed in their own battles. She turned to face her own opponent who looked furious. He came charging at her "Now, now. Anger will only hinder you" she mocked as she easily dodged him. He spun around and charged again and again. She kept dodging _'crap, he isn't giving me time to throw my kama*'_ she thought while trying to dodge him. Suddenly she felt the wall behind her and looked at her opponent eyes wide _'he has me cornered now'_ she thought as he smirked at her. She held her two kama up in a defence position as she saw, what she had mistaken for his hair, unwrap itself and move on its own. "What the hell is that?" she asked eyes wide. "Its... my tail" he said as it came shooting towards her. There was a large force as it pushed against her two blades. Then the pressure was removed, she panted as she saw the tail retreat to be by the large merman. "What's your name? I like to know my prey's name before I devour them" he asked flashing his teeth.

"It's customary to introduce yourself before asking others" she said sharply

"Bwahaha, your right. I'm Kenshou" he replied

"My name is Yuzuki" she said as she jumped away from the wall slashing at the merman. He used his tail as a weapon and kept his arms folded across his chest. She saw his tail coming in to her left side and moved her kama to block it and jumped back. _'I can't to close combat, his tail can get me and he hasn't used his hands yet. I have a better chance if I do ranged and throw my kama at him like before.'_ She spun her right kama holding onto the chain and threw it at the merman. He dodged it easily and she tugged the chain to make the blade loop around and return to her. He dodged again and she caught the handle. She quickly threw the kama hoping to surprise him with a quick attack. His eyes widened as she slashed through his side leaving a large gash and she jerked the chain so the blde came flying back and hit him in his shoulder again. "Hm, didn't expect that. So you don't need to spin it before letting it go?" he mused aloud.

"That's right" she answered

"Well I won't be surprised again" he yelled as he walked forward sending his tail towards her. She blocked the sharp tail as it attacked her. Gradually his tail became faster and she was struggling to keep up with the attacks, then she missed one. The tail went whizzing past her blade and struck her right shoulder. She let out a gasp, the pain was unbearable; it felt like the single tip expanded into hundreds of tiny spikes under her skin. She heard someone yell her name but didn't know who it was. He ripped his tail out and she screamed in pain as she staggered backwards. She was right. The end of the tail had hundreds of spiked protruding out of it. She lashed out swinging her kama at the merman trying to slice him but he dodged them all. Her right arm stung and blood was slowly oozing out of the wound. "Sempai!" she heard the two bounty hunters yell. She turned to where Zoro was fighting and was shocked to see him in pain _'Must be his wounds from Mihawk, he hasn't fully recovered...'_ she thought as she ran in his direction as he collapsed to the ground. She got to him just in time to see Sanji flying past her and landing on the other side of the wall. "Shit" she breathed out.

"Che, you have no time to look out for your friends girly" the green merman's came from behind her. She stood up quickly and threw her left kama at him this time but the chain was caught by him. Her eyes went wide as he jerked on the chain making her come towards him. He snickered as his tail wrapped itself around her neck the tip free to move around. "Hm, where is the best place to end it? In the head? The throat? Or maybe the heart?" he asked himself aloud pointing to each of the places with the tip of his tail. One of the kamas clattered to the ground as she used the now free hand to claw at the tail around her neck. She struggled as the tail slowly cut off her air supply. He simply laughed at her feeble attempts to get out of his grip. With her last ounce of energy she brought her arm up and swung it down on the tail between herself and the twisted merman as the tip of the tail came shooting towards her heart.

* * *

How did you like it? I'm not so good at fight scenes, so hope this is okay

Please r&r! I beg you!

Yuzuki: Yea, please review!!!!

Sanji: Ahhh, Yuzuki! You're so cute when you plead for reviews

*Nami hits him upside the head*

Luffy: Haha! This is so fun! Review please! Oi Zoro, you too

Yuzuki: Yea Zoro, people will review more if you say it too, everyone loves you!

Zoro: Fine! If it will shut you all up. Oi you reading! Review damnit!

Azuresilver: no need to be so rude about it...

**Niichan = older brother**

**Hime=princess**

**Yuzuki's weapon is a kusarigama think like Shuhei Hisagi release from Bleach (look up Shuhei Hisagi in google images) the *kama is the sickle part**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry this took a while but here is Chap 4! I'm into the final stretch of the year, that's right, exams! So may not be able to get in another chap after this, but I promise as soon as I have finished my exams I'll get the next chapters up! Wish me luck! :)**

* * *

_Last time..._

_With her last ounce of energy she brought her arm up and swung it down on the tail between herself and the twisted merman as the tip of the tail came shooting towards her heart._

An ear splitting yell echoed through the Park as the merman stumbled backwards and Yuzuki fell to the ground on all fours, still holding the handle of her kama. Yuzuki coughed, gasping for breath as the tail uncoiled from her throat hanging limply with the tip embedded in her left shoulder. "You bitch!" yelled the merman as he held is cut tail "You cut off my freeken tail!" She smirked as she regained her breath and looked up at him still breathing heavily. "Go have a cry fish face" she taunted. His horror and anger faded to be replaced by an evil smirk "Haha, you think that's all you have to do to defeat me?" he asked tossing his considerably shorter tail over his shoulder "Then you're very mistaken. Ah, I see you moved at the last second to make my tail miss your heart. But you are only making the time to the inevitable longer" the merman haughtily as her walked towards her. She scowled as she pushed herself up of the ground and grasped the tail tightly in her right hand. She winced as her pulled out the tail, blood spurting out, and threw it to the side. As she was about to pick up the other kama off the ground the merman's foot stomped and crushed her hand. She screamed in pain as she withdrew while he brought his foot up before smashing it down again on the kama. Yuzuki still held on to the other blade and he took the opportunity to kick her, with his other foot, hard in the stomach. The kama fell out of her hand as she was sent flying into the wall and slid to the ground. Blood rolled down her face as she struggled to mover her head. She groaned and heard people screaming at her. She couldn't understand what they were saying. "Hn, an odd weapon" Kenshou remarked as he took his foot off the hilt of the katana with no blade and walked towards Yuzuki.

She heard a sickening crack as a foot came crashing down on her and coughed up blood. _'What the hell? I'm fighting two fish faces?'_ she thought as he loomed over her. He picked her up by the neck and tossed her like a ragdoll across the park. She coughed and spat out more blood as she got up onto all fours. "You still want more?" he asked looking at her and laughing. Yuzuki looked at her sheath still on her hip, her lips twitched. "Heh, just you wait and see" she said menacingly _'Perfect, it's all set'_. She looked at him with determined eyes. Kenshou gasped and spluttered as her stood in front of her. Blood shot out all over his body. He looked shocked as he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. All was silent as a melodious, spine tingling sound was heard. Yuzuki sighed as she stood up slowly and walked over to her fallen katana hilt and resheathed it. Grasping her injured torso with her good arm she leaned on the wall and slid down to sit breathing heavily.

"You idiot! What are you doing? You're falling straight into their plan" she heard someone yell and a splash. She opened her eyes and looked over to the edge of the water as the blue merman dove into the water. She groaned quietly in pain _'what's going on? It's hard to breath and that pain is back on my neck'_ she struggled to stay conscious.

"Oi, Yuzuki" she heard a concerned voice. She looked up slowly to see Zoro looking at her worried "You okay?" he asked.

"Do I look okay?" she asked "Don't worry about me for now, we need to figure out how to save Luffy, he has been down there for a while now. Treating injuries can come later" she managed to push out before coughing and continuing to breathe shakily.

"He's safe, don't worry. Well fifty percent anyway" a wet Sanji said and Yuzuki felt slightly relieved.

"Fifty percent?" Zoro sounded confused

"Hey! Come on up here you stupid fish! I will slice you up and eat you with sauce!" Sanji yelled making her giggle a little regretting it as soon as the pain in her chest came. The blue merman came spluttering out of the water. "It doesn't matter whether it's on land or in water, my strength is still the same. And you have made me mad now. I will use the ultimate karate kick on you" he said as he got out of the water. He started talking about how he was going to use a special kick but Sanji went straight in "Neck kick! Shoulder kick! Back kick! Throat kick! Chest kick! Thigh kick" each kick hitting their mark sending the large merman to the ground. "YOO- YOU! One-thousand power!"

"Final Kick!" Sanji bellowed at the same time and sent him flying into 'la-la land' "There will be no need for dessert" he finished. _'Wow. Impressive'_ Yuzuki thought.

"Kurobi. Hatchi. Kenshou." Arlong said the names of his fallen nakama.

"After all this, you are all just losers" Sanji mocked

"We win this game" Zoro commented

There were gasps coming from the villagers and the others who were watching them. "You! How dare you beat up my beloved crew! It seems that I am too easy on you!" Arlong yelled furiously.

"You said that Luffy was fifty percent safe, what did you mean?" Zoro asked Sanji quietly.

"Well he won't die for sure, but I have to go down there one more time and take care of something" he replied offhandedly "But I don't think this guy will allow us to do that" he finished

Yuzuki's eyes were half closed as she struggled to stay conscious but even that didn't stop her from seeing Arlong attack both Sanji and Zoro making them collapse to the ground. "What was that?" she someone ask _'I would like to know that answer too'_ she thought. Sanji got up slowly coughing up blood

"You are just weak humans. I don't need to touch you and make my hands dirty. Just this amount of water can kill you. That's the difference between us and you puny humans!" said Arlong as he showed the water in his hand

"Maybe. You. Underestimate. Us" Sanji panted as he slowly stood up to face the large merman.

"Chest kick!" he yelled as he sent a kick to Arlong's chest. Arlong dodged the attack and sent Sanji back to the ground with one hand. "I think you should just hurry up and die" he said as Sanji coughed up blood "you're life's not worth anything" he said lowly looking at his defeated foes .

"Arlong!" Yuzuki shouted trying to stand up as he looked over to her. She was horrified at the amazing strength Arlong possessed _'if I don't stop him he will surely kill Zoro and Sanji'_ "Arlong! Leave them the hell alone bastard!" she screamed still attempting to get up. She was still fighting the pain from the injuries in her arms, chest, stomach and the odd pain in her neck. "Oh ho? A mere, filthy human telling me what to do? This will be a good lesson to you and all those here" Arlong said as he approached her. She whimpered as he clamped his hand to her throat and picked her up. He held her forcefully in his grip and thrust her to the wall. Yuzuki groaned as blood trickled down the back of her head. She was too weak, her energy had left her, she didn't have enough strength to fight back and hung there trying her hardest to stay conscious. _'This is it... I guess.... NO!... I can't! I want to live.....just let me...live'_ her eyes were getting heavier.

~~**~~

"Arlong!"

"Nami" Arlong guessed as he looked from Yuzuki in his grasp to Nami who had made her entrance

"I have come to kill you" she said darkly.

"Heh" Arlong smirked and Yuzuki was thrown across the park again. She slid and rolled to come to rest at the edge of the water unmoving. Nami scowled _'I hope she's okay'_

"Kill me?! Hahahahahahaha! For eight years we've been together. How many times have you tried to kill me? Attack me when I was off guard, poison or even hire someone to kill me? After all you can't kill me right? You should realise by now that no lowly human can ever have the chance to kill me. Listen, I won't kill you and I won't let you go. You will be our navigator forever! I'm not a cruel person. I won't lock you up. I still want you to be our navigator. I am going to kill every human here, except you. However, if you say that you will join us and will continue drawing maps for us I will spare all of Kokoyashi's villager's lives. But not these guys because they have made too much trouble. I will let you choose" he put a foot on Sanji "between joining us and saving Kokoyashi's villagers or following these insects ad trying to kill me. So Nami, will you join us? Or are you going to choose them?"

Nami froze. "That's dirty! You are pressuring Nami either way!" some of the villagers yelled clearly appalled at the decision that had to be made by her. "I'm sorry everyone" Nami suddenly said "Please fight with me" A roar erupted as the villagers yelled their agreement thrusting their weapons in the air. A fountain shot out from over the wall "What is that?" mused Arlong

"He's back, the only thing now is to destroy that rock" Sanji said grinning and starting to get up

"Oh, is that what you meant" Zoro said also starting to get up. "thirty seconds, I can't give you more than that" he said as he got his three swords ready. "That's plenty" Sanji said as he removed his shoes and dove into the water.

"We don't have a fountain over there. Is it that rubber man?" Arlong continued to muse in a flash there was a stinging sensation on his face. "Don't worry, there's nothing going on. You half-fish half-human!" he turned to see Zoro standing there swords in hand. "Do you want to die that much Roronoa Zoro?"

"Rotten eggs shot!" came a shout and some projectiles shot towards them. Startled they looked around to find the culprit. "I've come here to rescue you Zoro!" came Usopp's voice "Please fight hard!" he yelled from the hole Sanji made in the wall. "Your over there?!" shouted the villagers as they saw him. "Usopp" Nami said relieved

"Nami! I defeated one of those mermen!" he called back proudly.

~~**~~

_Elsewhere..._

"Can you take your legs out of that rock?" Genzo asked the head he was holding

"No way because I don't have any power at all" Luffy replied

_Under the water..._

Sanji swam towards Nojiko and Luffy's body that was still stuck in the cement _'You are our last hope'_

_On land..._

"I won't allow you... to do that" Hatchi croaked as he struggled onto his hands and knees.

"I don't know what Chef-sempai is doing but that that is the most important key to win" Johnny said

"Zoro-sempai! Fight! Fight!" Yosaku encouraged

"Should we get Yuzuki-chan outta there?" Johnny whispered to Yosaku.

Zoro stole a quick glance at Yuzuki. She was lying in an odd position and unmoving, her back towards him, near the edge of the water. "Those with the devils fruit power will lose all their power under the water and die. If that kid is still alive then it means there is someone else getting involved in this fight" Arlong said to Zoro

"Get involved? I didn't think this game was fair anyway" Zoro retorted

"Hey Arlong! Come over here!" Usopp yelled to get his attention. Arlong turned his eyes to look over at Usopp then back to Zoro, ignoring Usopp. "You want to be the first to die right?" he asked Zoro as Usopp let lose a rubber band "Now get him!" he yelled as the rubber band flew a short distance before falling to the ground.

"I will break your long nose" Zoro threatened as he lunged forwards. Arlong caught his blade in his sword like nose "Idiot, my nose can't be broken that's why it's long." They pushed against each other both trying to gain the upper hand.

Hatchi opened his eyes slowly "What? I thought you were going to shoot that rubber band at me" he said.

"What!?"

"What did you say? I was aiming at Arlong, I said his name too" Usopp said shocked "Can't you hear?"

"Squidy?" Zoro muttered as he looked over to the octopus merman still trying to force Arlong back.

"I won't let your plan succeed Roronora Zoro! I will go down there and kill all your friends" he said and looked over at an unconscious Yuzuki "Then I'll come back for you" he muttered as he dove into the water.

"Don't worry about them, all of you are about to die anyway!" Arlong yelled as he overpowered Zoro. Zoro groaned as Arlong held him up by the throat. "Why are you putting up with all these bandages?" he asked before roughly ripping them off to reveal Zoro's injuries from his fight with Mihawk. Everyone gasped as the large scar was exposed, blood dripping. Arlong brought his hand back readying a death blow but stopped when Zoro chuckled "Better do nothing. At least the wound won't open. What a moron"

"You are a strange person" Arlong commented

"I wasn't talking about me, I'm talking about that to squidy"

~~**~~

"I'M BACK!" a voice rang out over the park. There were mixed salutations and cheers from the onlookers.

"That rubber man brat" Arlong muttered

"You're late, Idiot" Zoro said looking up

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled grinning

"Eh? Hey don't! Are you gonna...?" he started before an arm grabbed him and he was flung into the air.

"Stupid!" cried the onlookers as they saw him fly

"And take care of Yuzuki!" he yelled at Zoro as he flung said girl to him. Zoro grunted at the impact of the girl as they both flew through the air.

Luffy's feet landed on the ground, his head still stretched "Gomu gomu no... Bell! Kick! Bullet! Machine gun!" Luffy pummelled Arlong. The audience stood in shock as Luffy brought Arlong down. "What are you doing?" Arlong questioned as he stood back up. "I just finished my warm up" Luffy proclaimed cracking his knuckles.

~~**~~

Zoro landed harshly on the other side of the wall. Yuzuki fell away from him and would have nearly fallen into the water had Zoro not grabbed her wrist. "I'm gonna kill him" he said as he pulled Yuzuki up to safety on the bit of land. Zoro breathed deeply as he lay there with his eyes closed, still having a grip on Yuzuki's hand. Yuzuki stirred and groaned as she put her free hand on her face "What the hell...?" she mumbled "I feel like I've been trampled by a zoo and all the big animals went over me twice" she groaned, Zoro smiled to himself at her comment, _'What the hell is on my arm?' _she added in thought as she looked at her wrist and trailed the hand holding it to a heavily breathing Zoro. "Shit! Zoro are you... ahh!" she said as she got up to fast and a searing pain hit her. She fell to the ground again clutching her torso. "Don't move too much" he said nonchalantly, eyes still closed, "You've got some bad injuries"

"Well so do you!" she snapped back as she lay in a more comfortable position next to him. He slightly opened one eye and looked down to her cocking an eyebrow. "Sorry, I get irritated easily when I'm injured" she muttered making him snigger. She glared at him and was about to yell at him again when he brought a hand up and clasped it over her mouth to stop her from yelling "Okay, I'm sorry, just don't yell" he said grinning. They could hear the sounds of a raging battle occurring in the park, but neither could see what was happening. "Mi mimh mi moud mei mab mis momin mon. Mand ma mu meit mur mans moff mi?!" she said under his hand.

"Eh? What did you say?" he asked removing his hand from her mouth

"I said I wish I could see what was going on! Baka. And you know you can let go of my wrist now..." she mumbled the last bit. "I already..." he looked to see what she was talking about and saw that he was still holding on to her wrist. He promptly took his hand away as she mumbled a thanks. "If you lose I'll kill you" Zoro said and Yuzuki knew what he meant.

"How did you defeat that guy anyway? I watched the last part of your fight, one second he was gonna finish you off and the next he was on the ground in his own blood" Zoro asked Yuzuki. She turned her head to look towards him "It's my power unfortunately" she said gloomily looking back up.

He looked at her "And that would be..."

"I ate the Mizu Mizu no Mi, I think. I actually don't remember. It was before Luffy's grandfather found me. I remembered that I could use it but not how I got the power. It is an odd fruit. Normally people who eat a devil's fruit have their weakness of water but my power is the weakness, so what happens then?" she sighed "it's so annoying" she said pouting. "Heh, doesn't look like a weakness to me" Zoro said facing upwards. She turned towards him and smiled slightly "Well what about you Mr. Three swords? How are you still alive? I swear you should be dead right now with the wounds you've got" she teased

"Ha, look at yourself!" was his only comeback as he grinned.

"Well I'm not the one who tried to fight a Shichibukai" she muttered making him scowl

"Well it was necessary if I want to become the greatest swordsman in the world, maybe it was a bit too soon... I need to become stronger! I will never lose again!" he said determinedly

"Well it's good that you have a goal" she said softly "My goal is to find out what happened to my homeland, all I know at the moment is that it is not in existence now, nor, apparently, has it been." He looked at her uncertainly. She looked at him and answered his unvoiced question "I have requested the research of my homeland to Luffy's grandfather many times but he came back with the same conclusions; that my homeland wasn't in existence and that there was no record of me on any land of these seas. I know there is some evidence... somewhere. I just have to find it"

"Well it's good that you have a goal too. But be warned though, if anyone gets in the way of my goal I won't hesitate to kill them. Even if it's you" he said the last bit quietly to himself and lay in thought.

"I'll keep that in mind" she whispered to herself closing her eyes.

Minutes crept by and Zoro and Yuzuki lay quietly next to each other, eyes closed, with the sounds of the fight drifted over the two resting fighters. Zoro was sleeping while Yuzuki was deep in meditation _'I wonder how Luffy's doing....' _Dull pain coursed through her body and she struggled to keep it at bay '_This is so annoying, why do I feel so weak?' _she shifted a little and took out the medicine box form her pocket and shook it. A light rattling sound came from inside _"Great! Only a few left"_ she thought sarcastically as she took one and put the box away. The tablet relieved some of her discomfort but the pain still persisted. She inwardly sighed as she resumed her meditation, her thoughts drifting to the pain in her neck. It wasn't as bad as the injuries she had received from the fight, but it unsettled her. Where had she gotten it from? She thought back to when she had left the Marine force. The pain had started a little after she had left had it not? And it hurt the most when she tried to use her power. What on earth was going on? _'I'm gonna have to remember to ask someone about it later on' _she decided.

There was a thud and movement next to her. Yuzuki looked over to where Zoro was laying and saw him sitting up and rubbing his head "Who did this to me? I still need some sleep. I'm gonna kill whoever disturbed me" he muttered and Yuzuki stifled a giggle _'Man he has some issues about killing people doesn't he?' _she said to herself. The bricks that hit him sat innocently near him _'Ah, well maybe he has his reasons...'_ she wondered.

"Nami!" Luffy yelled.

Yuzuki smiled "I guess it's over. He bet that fish face" she said happily.

"You are my friend!" Luffy finished

"Arlong park is destroyed!" the voices roared as they celebrated Luffy's victory of the tyrannous merman.

"Hey, can you move Zoro?" Yuzuki turned to ask Zoro who had fallen asleep again sitting against the wall. She rolled her eyes as she slowly stood up. _'Yosh! I got some energy back'_ she thought and she started to climb over the wall to get into Arlong Park. Her head popped out and she was able to see into the compound. There was a mass of rubble where Arlong tower used to be and celebrating people everywhere. She pushed off lightly from Zoro's head _'Hm, he didn't even realise I used his head to get over the wall, Baka'_ she thought smiling devilishly. She came to sit at the top of the wall she laughed at the gleeful expression of Luffy's face.

"Stop right there!" commanded an authorative voice. She looked to see who it came from and found the source "This is my lucky day. I had that chance to witness a very interesting fight from start to finish. You are very lucky, no one will believe that unknown pirates can defeat those mermaids" he said cockily. Yuzuki scowled _'It's that stupid mouse ma, I never really liked him'_ she hopped down from the wall and walked slowly towards the offending man. "Now, because of you, every single Beli of Arlong's will be mine! Put down your weapons. I, commander Nezumi of Unit sixteen will be happy to accept all the treasure!" he exclaimed excitedly before he screamed in fright and pain.

"Everyone is happy, so you better not disturb them" Zoro said devilishly as he held him. Before anyone knew it Yuzuki punched him in the face sending him out of Zoro's hand and plummeting to the ground. Everyone looked at her shocked and with wide eyes. "This is payback" she said knocking his unit down with the rest of the crew in a series of kicks and elbows as they lunged at the group. Nezumi looked up at Yuzuki from the ground and cowered in fear as she stood over him narrowing her eyes.

"You think you can get away with this?" Nezumi shrieked as he lay with his unit in a bloodied mess.

"You're still saying that?" Yuzuki asked rolling her eyes. She and the rest of the crew stood in a semicircle around the defeated marines. Nami walked past Luffy, putting his straw hat back on his head, and knelt down to the marine commander "This is for shooting Nojiko and destroying Belmel-san's orange farm" she said leaving the commander in confusion before pummelling him with her staff. The whole unit was sent into the water, Nami holding the commander's whiskers and berating him saying to help rebuild the villages on the island, not to touch Arlong's money because it belonged to the villagers and to give her own money back. "Okay, I will return it" he acquiesced to her demands. "You dirty pirates! You will never get away with this! That man Luffy! You're the captain right? You deserve what you will get. Remember my words!" he screamed from the top of his lungs as he floated in the water. Yuzuki sent him a death glare and he swam off in fear.

"Hey! He said that you will deserve something" Sanji noted

"How did he know that I deserve to become the King of the Pirates?" Luffy asked

"He didn't mean that..." Zoro said annoyed at his dimness

"If what he said is true what are we gonna do!?" Usopp yelled in a panic

"Don't worry about it, he can't do anything. The little weakling" Yuzuki said calmly and smiled as she saw the villagers run off to tell the rest of the island of Arlong's defeat. She looked from herself to the crew and sighed _'we have a heck of a lot of injuries'_. She sauntered up to Dr Nako "Um, excuse me Doctor-san. Do you mind if you take care of our friend here?" she asked politely smiling.

~~**~~

Sanji and Usopp waited outside the village medical centre while Luffy, Yuzuki and Zoro were getting patched up inside. Zoro was groaning as the doctor treated him with Luffy and Yuzuki already having been treated. "It's supposed to be like that. This wound will take over two years to heal! You are out of your mind to make your injury worse!" the doctor berated Zoro as he stitched the wound on Zoro's chest "Stop moving! Lucky for you whoever did the treatment in the first instance did a pretty good job. You say you don't have a doctor on board?" Dr. Nako asked Luffy the last bit. "Doctors? That's interesting, but we have to find a musician first" Luffy said thinking about it. Yuzuki looked at him like he was crazy. "Why?" the doctor asked not knowing the kind of person Luffy was. "Because a pirate's life is supposed to have fun!" he said hitting a fist into his palm. "Yes Luffy, you're right, but if we are going to get in more situations like the one we just had then we do need a doctor. I don't have enough experience to deal with the injuries we may receive" Yuzuki pointed out to him. "Naw! But I want a musician Yuzuki!" he whined. She rolled her eyes and looked to what the doctor was doing to get some more knowledge on treating wounds. "So you're the one who patched him up?" Nako asked her as she watched him work. "uh-huh, I did what I could with what I had. And it was hard because I had two morons yelling in my face" she muttered the last bit. The doctor heard what she said and laughed "Well you did a pretty good job for not being a doctor, if I do say so myself. After I finish this I'll give you some advice" he offered. Yuzuki beamed at his praise "Thank you, that would be nice" she said "I will come back when you finish" and she walked to the door and went outside. "Yuzuki-hime!" a shriek reached her ears and she instinctively thrust a hand out to block the flying man coming towards her. She had to use two hands to push against Sanji's chest to keep him away from her as his arms flew around trying to get her in a hug. Her hand stung as she used them and she remembered she had to take it easy to make sure the bone healed in place. "So they aren't done yet?" Usopp asked from behind the love struck Sanji "Ah, no..." she said through clenched teeth trying to keep Sanji at bay. Yuzuki got fed up and gave him a forceful push away from her "What's with the hime anyway!" she yelled angrily at him as he fell to a sitting position on the ground. "Ahh!! Yuzuki is so cute when she's angry!" he said in a daze. She rolled her eyes and continued to chide him until Luffy came out and told her the doctor was finished with Zoro.

The doctor spent the rest of the day teaching Yuzuki some basic things about treating flesh wounds form bullet wounds to gashes to broken bones. He checked her own fractured wrist and after making sure it was alright they both headed towards the ongoing party the village was having in celebration of Arlong's defeat.

* * *

azuresilver: Zoro, go on

Zoro: do i have to

asuresilver: uh yea

zoro: hn

azuresilver : zoro *looks at him sternly*

Zoro: okay, fine, I apologize for my rudeness last chapter, PLEASE review

Yuzuki: see, wasnt that hard to say it nicely!

Zoro: yea yea

Luffy: so are we getting a musician or not?

Yuzuki: *hits him playfully* not yet Onii

Sanji: Yuzuki-hime! you're so cute whn you're....

azuesilver: alright everyone calm down, all together now...

Everyone: please review! it makes us all happy :)

Zoro: especially me!

*everyone looks at him weirdly*

* * *

Woo hoo! thanks for reading this chap! as i said before, this will be my last chap for a few weeks, but i will update as soon as i finish my exams! sorry this took so long, i have interviews for next years courses so fingers crossed that i get into it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all, sorry I haven't updated in so long! I finished my exams a while ago but haven't had a chance to write any thing. Hope you like this chappie! :)**

* * *

Yuzuki made her way over to where she could see Zoro and Sanji talking to Luffy. "I'm so full! I haven't been this full in a long time!"Luffy exclaimed "Hey Sanji what was that last piece of melon you ate?" he added

"What's with the handful of meat? Are you gonna sell it?" Zoro asked sceptically eyeing his meat filled hands. Yuzuki smiled to herself as she heard of her brother's antics _'still the same as always'_

"Hey guys" she said as she walked towards them, Sanji just having told Luffy where he got the melon from. Luffy shot towards Yuzuki and stopped in front of her running on the spot "Hey Yuzuki! You're finally here! I'm gonna go find some melon!" he told her before taking off again. Yuzuki shook her head, smiling, and went over to Zoro and Sanji.

"Yuzuki-hime!" Sanji exclaimed when he saw her while Zoro just nodded in acknowledgement taking a gulp out of his tankard. "Why must you call me hime? Chan or san would suffice" she grumbled as she sat next to the pair.

"It suits you that's all" he replied nonchalantly. Yuzuki eyed him sceptically.

"You know what I want to know, is how you got that weapon. I've never seen anything like it before" Zoro asked curiously. Yuzuki sighed as he took the weapon and lay it in front of herself for them to see. "Well it was the only possession I had with me when I was found. Well that and this necklace, but it won't even open..." she added pointing to said item around her neck. She smiled to herself "When I was found these were the only things I had with me"

"So do you remember your family?" Sanji asked seriously

"No, I cannot." She replied sadly.

"Well at least we know you can fight" Zoro said "But why do you keep your hair so long? Doesn't it get in the way? I mean I don't even know how Curley Eyebrows over there can fight with that hair hanging all over his face" Zoro questioned smirking at the last comment.

"Oi, oi, oi! What's with that eh? You wanna fight? I'll kick your ass right here!" Sanji said starting to get up.

"You? Kick my ass? As if" Zoro said challengingly putting a hand on his katana.

"Boys! Settle down. This is meant to be a celebration" Yuzuki said trying to calm the two down "To answer your question Zoro, I keep my hair long because when I was found I had long hair and it reminds me of where I come from and my heritage"

"I like it long, it makes you look like a true beauty" Sanji complemented making Yuzuki blush muttering a thanks.

"Yea, well I still think it's gonna get in the way. I'm not coming to save you when your hair gets you killed" Zoro said smirking. Yuzuki punched him lightly in the shoulder smiling slightly.

"So how were you able to defeat that merman earlier?" Sanji asked Yuzuki

"Well I've always, as far as I can remember, had the power to manipulate water. It's from the Mizu Mizu no Mi fruit. I can control water and its properties." She replied

"So what, you can freeze it and melt it and stuff like that?"

"Yes, among other things, but I can't create it, it has to be there already and since there is always water in the atmosphere I'm always in my element" she said smiling.

"That's an amazing power to have. Can you show me?" Sanji asked

"Sure. Here..." she looked over to Zoro as he went to take another gulp from his tankard and manipulated the liquid to exit the mug and float nearby. Zoro looked at his empty cup confused "I could have sworn..." he muttered to himself as Yuzuki giggled and Sanji roared with laughter at the confused swordsman. "What the hell are you laughing at?" he yelled. Yuzuki pointed to the floating mass of liquid near the cup and put it back into his cup. _'I think I'm starting to get along with these guys'_ she thought happily to herself. Yuzuki rubbed the back of her neck fiercely "You've been doing that a lot" Sanji observed.

"Nani? You mean rubbing my neck? Oh it's nothing" she replied laughing hysterically. Sanji eyes her suspiciously but left it at that.

The rest of the night was spent laughing and having a good time. Usopp told his tall tales at the top of his lungs to the happiness of the villagers while Luffy scoffed down more food. Zoro and Sanji told Yuzuki about their own pasts before Sanji ran off saying something about girls. For the first time in her life Yuzuki felt that she was where she was meant to be.

~~**~~

It was the morning of the Straw Hat's departure and Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, Sanji and Yuzuki stood on the deck of the Going Merry. "She hasn't arrived yet" Usopp wondered aloud.

"Maybe she's not coming with us" Zoro said simply with his arms folded.

"Nami san's not coming!?" Sanji yelled

"You tricked me about those ham melons, right?" Luffy asked pointing at Sanji. Yuzuki rolled her eyes at the boy's comments _'Please come Nami, I don't wanna have to deal with these guys alone'_ she pleaded. She stifled a laugh at the comment Nojiko made about Nami being able to steal any time. "Raise the anchor!" a yell echoed. Yuzuki looked to the source of the voice. It was Nami some ways away; she then started running towards the ship.

"She's running? What is she thinking?" Usopp questioned frantically

"She said raise the anchor, just do it" Luffy said calmly.

"She's going to leave without saying goodbye?" the crowd wondered some in shock and others in mild anger. Nami ignored their comments and ran through the crowd of people leaping over the small gap of water and onto the ship next to Yuzuki who smiled at her. Nami sent a smile back before she lifted up her top and all sorts of valuables poured out. Exclamations from the villagers could be heard about their valuables being taken by the ever crafty Nami. "You thief!" all the villagers yelled in unison."

"She will never change" muttered Usopp

"Will she betray us again?"Zoro said warily

"Nami san is so cool!" Sanji admired. While Luffy laughed at his navigators craftiness and Yuzuki smiled and looked around at her new crew.

"Goodbye everyone!" Nami yelled smiling and waving to the villagers "I'll miss you!"

~~**~~

Kokoyashi Village was barely out of sight when Luffy started running around on the deck. Zoro had taken to leaning against the railing dozing, Usopp was setting up a work station on deck, Nami was sorting out her things in the women's cabin, Sanji was planting orange trees on the top of the ship and Yuzuki sat on the railing reading a medical book the doctor gave her. Luffy's arm stretched past Yuzuki's face and she, without removing her eyes from her book, tapped a pressure point on his arm. Luffy's arm ceased to stretch making him confused "Eh? Yuzuki" he whined pouting. She looked over to him "Stop being annoying nii-san, we just barely left the village" she scolded tapping the pressure point again letting his arm snap back into place. "How did you do that?" Usopp asked in wonder.

"What?"

"Make him stop stretching, how did you do that?" he asked in amazement

"Oh that? Luffy can get a bit annoying sometimes..."

"A bit?" Usopp muttered to himself sweat dropping

"I just hit a pressure point which renders the limb useless by cutting off the nervous supply; to reactivate you simply tap the point again and voila. You have to hit it at a precise angle and with correct pressure to get the desired effect. Maybe I could teach you sometime?" Usopp smiled widely at the offer and agreed. She smiled warmly and jumped off the railing giving Luffy a warning look, to which he just smiled goofily, before going to the woman's quarters. \

Nami greeted Yuzuki when she walked into the room "I have decided that, since you are younger than me, I will teach you womanly things" Nami said suddenly thinking of the times she saw how Yuzuki acted sometimes. Yuzuki looked at her like she had said the most ridiculous thing on earth. "But I don't..." she started

"No need to thank me, jut think of it as compensation for throwing you into the water that time. First off we need..." and ignoring Yuzuki's protests Nami began assembling a new outfit for her. By the time she had finished Yuzuki wore her usual boots, a pair of denim short shorts and a low cut red t-shirt that showed off her toned midriff. "Um Nami" Yuzuki started

"Wow Yuzuki, you look amazing! Now get those guy's attention!" she yelled pushing Yuzuki out the door. She immediately turned around and began pounding on the door to be let back in "Nami! Let me back in, I don't want..!" she was interrupted by the wail of Sanji and the unmistakable sound of pounding footsteps coming towards her '_Crap! I don't have my katana with me!'_ she thought frantically before thrusting her hands out in front of herself and drenching Sanji with sea water.

Nami opened the door to see what had happened and saw Yuzuki apologising to Sanji. As soon as Yuzuki saw Nami open the door she dashed into the room giving her 'friend' a death glare. After a few minutes Yuzuki reemerged from the room with mid thigh length denim shorts and a green scoop neck t-shirt on, fully covering her torso. She walked towards Nami who was getting a news paper from a bird. It looked like she was getting angry at the price increase, 'It's_ not as though she needs to collect money anymore, right?'_ Yuzuki thought as she watched Nami. "Don't be stupid! From now on I will collect money for myself" she yelled at Usopp answering Yuzuki's thoughts _'typical'_

"Quiet, I'm in the process of developing my new chilli pepper marble. If this gets into anyone's eyes they will suffer unimaginable pain!" Usopp warned as he held a vial up.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" the unmistakeable yell of Sanji rang out and he sent a body flying causing Usopp to splash some of the concoction in his own eyes. "Just one orange!" Luffy whined and Sanji refused while Usopp's eyes burned from his own invention. "Hey Nami, can I look at the wanted posters from the paper?" Yuzuki asked as Luffy and Sanji argued for a bit.

"Eh? Yea, sure. Here." she said handing the wad of posters over to her.

"Thanks" she said.

"These are Nami-sans orange trees and I will take care of them with my life! Nami-san, I will give you my love with all my heart!" Sanji yelled at the top of his lungs. Nami thanked him sweetly while Yuzuki walked away from them rolling her eyes and smiling at the incident. "You really know how to use people" Yuzuki heard Zoro mutter and giggled at his statement. She shook her head still smiling and turned her attention to the wanted posters. She rifled through them until one caught her eye. She looked around her to see if anyone was looking and took a look at said poster carefully. Her eyes widened with every line 'WANTED! Dead or Alive. Yuzuki. 40,000,000 Beli' It was her own wanted poster! She looked around quickly and stuffed the paper into her pockets. No one could see this. Another poster caught her eye. "Hey guys. I think you should all look at this..." everyone looked at her and she held up a wanted poster. There were mixed reactions of shock and awe before Luffy stretched his arm and snagged the poster form Yuzuki. "Haha! Wow! Thirty million beli" he said rubbing the back of his head with a great big smile plastered on his face "We've become popular!" He started laughing at his predicament, not that he thought it was a bad thing anyway.

"Don't you understand anything? This means that many people are going to be looking for you!" Nami scolded him fruitlessly.

"See? My picture is on this wanted poster too" Usopp boasted to Sanji who sat sulking

"It's just the back of you" he pouted

"We can't waste time in East blue anymore" Yuzuki muttered and Nami agreed with her. The two females discussed the predicament they were in with Luffy's new bounty while he, Usopp and Sanji celebrated about going to the Grand Line when Zoro suddenly got their attention "Hey! There's and island over there"

"An island?" Yuzuki said looking at Nami

"We must be very close to the Grand Line now so that has to be Logue Town" she replied

"The city of the beginning and the end, the Legendary Gol D Rodger was born and executed here" Yuzuki explained to the crew.

"The place where the greatest pirate was executed..."

'_Oh damn, I better keep Luffy out of trouble, there's bound to be people looking for his head here'_ Yuzuki thought concerned

~~**~~

The Straw hat crew had docked their ship and all, minus Yuzuki, were standing at the entrance of the town. "I'm gonna go to the execution platform" stated Luffy and before anyone could stop him he had run off into the crowd as was lost to his crew. Yuzuki had joined the rest of her crew, after securing their ship at the docks, just in time to see her brother dash into the crowd. She heaved a sigh _'Damn, I was hoping to have a talk to him before he ran off... I'll just have to find him before the money hungry people do...'_ Yuzuki approached her comrades as Sanji said that there should be a lot of food in the town and Usopp commented that he wanted to buy tools for himself. Zoro was pondering aloud to himself about buying something while Nami was coning him into borrowing money from her with three hundred percent interest. "Nami" Yuzuki warned frowning at her "Zoro I'll lend you some money if you need it. No need borrow from the loan shark" she continued smirking at Nami's scowl.

"Y... Yea" he said confused.

"I'll come with you, you're gonna buy some new katana right?" Yuzuki asked offhandedly to which Zoro just nodded still staring at her uncertainly. The five comrades agreed on when they were going to meet to depart Logue town and set off for their various activities.

Zoro and Yuzuki had barely gotten ten steps before he stared intently at her and asked "Why did you help me out with Nami back there?"

She looked at him like he had grown another head. When he kept staring at her she replied "Because we're friends and friends help each other out. Besides I would not be able to get any sleep if Nami kept bantering on about you owing her money..." She said, looking a bit irritated. The pair continued on through the crowd

"You aren't with that monster today" a voice rang out. Yuzuki looked around to find the source of the voice

"Our captain was put in jail because of you!" Zoro looked at Yuzuki raising an eyebrow. They came to pass by a crowd surrounded a single woman was being confronted by two large, burly men. Yuzuki stopped to see what was going on "Haven't you learned your lesson?" one of the men asked

"I'll be honoured to fight you" the woman said bravely. Zoro also stopped at this point.

"What did you say? You will fight us?" one said while cracking his knuckles menacingly

"That's good" said the other unsheathing her sword

"You think we should help her?" Yuzuki whispered to Zoro _'Hmm, she looks a little familiar'_ she thought to herself.

"Prepare to die! Go and tell that monster that our dream of going to the Grand Line was ruined because of him!" they yelled as they lunged at the woman with their swords drawn. Yuzuki gasped and in the blink on an eye the woman blocked both of their attacks ending in a crouching position. Yuzuki and Zoro were shocked, that was until she went to get up and toppled over landing face first in the ground. They both cringed as she searched around on the ground for her glasses. Yuzuki crouched down in front of the courageous woman "You looking for these?" she asked handing her the glasses. "Ah, sorry. Thank you very much" as she looked towards her helpers both of their eyes widened for very different reasons. _'Shit, not THIS lady. That means HE is here and that's not good for us... I'm sure they remember me too...' _Yuzuki thought worriedly to herself. Before the woman could see the faces of the two in front of her Zoro had grabbed Yuzuki and dragged her into the crowd.

"That was so scary" Zoro muttered

"What was?" Yuzuki asked curiously, masking her own concerns.

"She... is very similar" he continued on, ignoring Yuzuki's question "Almost the same person and she's also a swordsman. So strange... maybe I'll never meet her again. That's so scary though" Yuzuki rolled her eyes at his mutterings _'If he liked the girl all he had to do was say it... I mean she's totally his type a swordsman, doesn't back down from a fight, definitely stupid and doesn't listen to anyone...' _Yuzuki thought to herself absentmindedly blushing a little when she realised that she sounded as if she was jealous.

A sign loomed overhead reading 'Weapons Shop' and the two stepped inside. "I want to buy some swords" Zoro proclaimed as entered the store. The perky man at the counter welcomed them began questioning Zoro about what kind of sword he wanted and even threw in the fact that they have many weapons because they had been in business for well over two hundred years. "Hey, how much do you have?" Zoro asked Yuzuki as she looked around at the shop prices. "Um... I only have one hundred thousand Beli with me. Not nearly enough to buy anything respectable from this shop" she added the last part in an undertone but Zoro wouldn't have heard anyway because he was talking to the shop owner "I have one hundred thousand Beli, and I want two swords" he was saying making Yuzuki slap her hand to her forehead. The shopkeeper's eyes narrowed and Yuzuki guessed that he was thinking that Zoro was an amateur. "You can only buy one good sword with that amount" was the owner's bored reply

"I don't care. Just give me whatever you got, I don't have much money" was Zoro's lazy demand. The shopkeeper suddenly went wide eyed as he saw Zoro's sword "Um, wait! Can I take a look at your sword?" he asked eyeing said item. "Eh..? What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"

"This is just a regular sword" he said after taking a look at it but the look in his eyes told Yuzuki that it wasn't an ordinary katana. Zoro grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck "What did you say?" Zoro said angrily

"Ah... just kidding" he said nervously and began trying to bargain for the valuable sword.

"I won't sell this sword, no matter how much you give me" Zoro said. Suddenly there was someone standing next to them at the counter examining Zoro's sword in the shopkeeper's hands "Ah! That sword! Isn't this...?" the person exclaimed _'What on earth...?'_ Yuzuki's thoughts were cut off when she saw the person's face _'oh no...'_

"This is Wado Ichimonyi, right?" she asked making Zoro and Yuzuki confused. "What a beautiful sword!" she said beaming. The shop owner tried to cover up what the woman had said by explaining to the confused pair that it was the name of the sword but that it was not famous at which point the woman cut in pulling a book from her coat "Not famous? Are you kidding? This is one of the twenty one O Wazamono, one of the Great Swords in the world! Its value is over ten million Beli!" at her statement the shopkeeper exploded "You stupid girl! You ruined my business!" he exclaimed.

"Eh? Ruined your business? Did I say something wrong? It's the first time I've ever seen something so beautiful so I..."

"You've come to get your Shigure sword right? Here, I have finished cleaning it for you" he cut her off angrily. Zoro and Yuzuki looked at each other wincing when they heard a crash "Why did you have to fall down there? Clean it up and get out of my shop!" the man then turned to Zoro and Yuzuki "You are very lucky. What that girl said was true. That is indeed a very good sword but it belongs to someone who doesn't know it's worth. What a waste. The fifty thousand swords are over there, go ahead and choose two of them" Zoro went over to the barrels the man pointed out to him. "Hey, you are the people I met a while ago" the women observed making Zoro fume and Yuzuki try to hide her face "You must love swords. You have three just like the one of the pirate hunters" she continued not noticing their reactions. Zoro was sifting through the swords in the barrels "Pirate hunters?" he asked as though he didn't know what she was talking about

"Don't you know him? A man called Roronoa"

"I often hear of him" was his reply as he unsheathed and resheathed swords from the container

"He is in the East Blue, but he is a bad person. He uses his swords for money. I can't forgive him. Why have all the bad people become stronger these days? All of the famous swordsmen have become either pirates or hunters, and all the best swords belong to them. The swords are crying"

"Hey, I'll meet back up with you later, I've got something I need to do" Yuzuki whispered to Zoro as the lady ranted about how all the good swords belonged to 'evil' people. He was slightly scared that he would be left with the sword crazy woman by himself but was given no chance to voice his opinion before she shoved the pouch of money into his hand and bolted out the door.

Yuzuki sighed heavily as she exited the store _'Okay, gotta find Luffy before he gets himself in to trouble_' she thought determinedly and walked off to the only place she thought he would be; the execution platform. The only problem was that she had no idea where that was. She mentally berated herself as she walked through the vast crowd to what she was hoping was where Luffy would be. _'Hm, the humidity's changing... looks like it might rain' _she thought looking up at the sky as she was walking causing her to bump into someone "Ow, sorry mister..." she started stopping when she realised he was talking to the person's chest. She looked up and cringed at the person she had bumped into. He had a scary looking face with a weird hair style, but that was not what made her cringe, he also had a sword meaning that he was a swordsman and would want to fight. "I... I'm sorry!" she said backing away slowly. She only got a few steps before she collided with who she thought was one of his comrades. She turned slowly to face a bunch of cloaked people _'uh-oh'_ was her last thoughts before she was lightly knocked out and caught by the man she had bumped into "Good word Cabaji, we could use a girl like this on the ship"

"Yes Captain Buggy" She heard the men say before she completely blacked out.

~~**~~

Yuzuki groaned as she rubbed her head _'Looking for a fight eh? I'll give you one now. I'm so angry right now!'_ it wasn't so much she was angry at anyone, she was angrier at herself for being put in this situation. "After you defeated me I made a vow to kill you one day and return to my crew!" a voice rang out. Yuzuki scrunched her eyes and opened them gasping at the scene around her; a mass crowd of circus attired people were standing in the centre of a crowd of towns people in a wide space looking towards a platform risen high above. _'This must be... so Luffy is...'_ her question was answered by the shout that came next "Oh! So it's you, Buggy?" she heard the distinct voice of Luffy ring out and looking to the platform her guess was confirmed.

"Stop insulting me. You still have your foul mouth!" the pirate called Buggy screamed back at him. His crew then drew their weapons "Don't move!"

"We'll show you our power!" the crew yelled while the rest of the crowd screamed in fear. Yuzuki looked herself over, expecting to be ties up or restrained in some way, and stood up from her place on the ground in time to see her brother get pinned down by the man she had collided with earlier. _'What stupid pirates...'_

"I will execute you in front of all these people! You should be proud to die at the same place as the famous pirate!" Buggy yelled for all to hear "Because this pirate Monkey. D Luffy has upset me and must be executed!" Yuzuki balled her hands into fists and smacked down the closest person to her _'No brother of mine will be executed without MY say so' _she thought watching as Buggy stood next to Luffy on the platform. She looked around; she was surrounded by pirates and civilians and she was sure she spotted marines watching from a nearby building.

"You're the one that's gonna be executed!" Buggy shrieked

"What? Don't say such stupid things" Luffy screamed

"What!? You are stupid, not me!" he directed at Luffy before addressing the large audience "And now I would like to begin the execution for you all!" he roared

'_No! Not yet!'_ Yuzuki started to panic; she couldn't let her brother get executed! She started to push and shove to get herself close to the platform so she could help her brother.

"Do you have any last words? There are many people looking at you now..." Buggy taunted as his foot rested upon Luffy's head. Then, "I am the person who will become the greatest pirate!" Luffy bellowed. Yuzuki stopped in her tracks gazing in awe at her brother and the crowd was deathly silent. There were a mixture of reactions from the crowd; the pirates were in mock awe while the townspeople were in shock. "Is that all you wanted to say rubber man?" Buggy asked squishing Luffy's head with his big foot and raising his sword.

"No..." Yuzuki whispered holding back tears

"Stop that!" someone yelled forcing Yuzuki to turn to see who spoke.

"Sanji! Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed happily

"So you have come Zoro, but you're too late!" Buggy yelled preparing for Luffy's execution. Yuzuki smiled at her new found hope and ran ahead of Zoro and Sanji to the platform. Buggy's crew were too distracted by Zoro and Sanji to pay any attention to Yuzuki so it surprised them when some of them were swept aside by her scythes and chain. After their sudden shock of Yuzuki joining the fight some turned to her and she continued to fight her way through to her brother hitting faces and torsos of those who lunged at her. Through the clanging of swords and the yells of the crows either trying to get away or fighting with the three Straw Hats, Buggy's voice could be heard "All of you be prepared and watch. This is the end of your Captain's life!"

'_I have to destroy that pillar!' _Yuzuki thought as she pushed forwards.

"Zoro! Sanji! Nami! Usopp! Yuzuki!" she heard her name ring out and she looked towards the brother she trusted and loved dearly. "I'm sorry. But I don't think I'll survive this time, haha" he said cheerily as Buggy swung his sword down.

"No! Nii-san!" Yuzuki screamed just as a bolt of lightning crashed down onto the platform.

Her hands shook as she sobbed. A quite "ow" got her attention and she saw Luffy slowly standing up then bend back down exclaiming "My hat!" Luffy put his hat on its rightful place and broadly smiled "Wow. Lucky. I'm safe now" he said simply. Everyone who was in the immediate area stood frozen with shock. Yuzuki ran to her brother and enveloped him in a hug while he continued to laugh "That was close!" he said patting her on the head as she ended the embrace.

"Do you believe in God?" Sanji asked Zoro

"Don't say something so stupid" was the reply he got

"Hey guys, we better get out of here before those marines come" Yuzuki suggested

"Here they come! Let's go!" Luffy exclaimed as he dashed off with Yuzuki, Sanji and Zoro in tow. The cries of the marines and pirates echoed behind them as they ran towards the Going Merry.

"No, we're not gonna get far like this, they'll catch us for sure!" Yuzuki observed as they ran through the streets.

"This storm is heavy..."

"They're still following us. Should we stop and fight them?" Luffy asked

"No, it's useless. We agreed to meet back at the ship as soon as possible" Sanji explained. They kept running until their path was blocked by someone. Shouts from behind told them it was Sergeant Tashigi and also the woman Yuzuki and Zoro met in town.

"I never thought you were Roronoa Zoro. You must be so proud that you could trick me! I can't forgive you now" she said as the four neared.

"What did you do to that lady?" Sanji berated Zoro

"So you are a marine?" Zoro asked, ignoring Sanji

"I will take Wado Ichimonyi form you" she threatened and stood in a fighting stance

"Try if you can" he taunted meeting her with his swords "You guys go on ahead" Yuzuki and Luffy dragged Sanji off ahead with them as he criticized Zoro for fighting a woman but a shushing from Yuzuki made him forget is woe and focused on her instead.

They kept running towards their ship, rain pelting their faces. A lone figure stood in the trio's path "Who's that?"

"I have found you" the figure said menacingly "Ah, you are here too, Rear Admiral Yuzuki"

* * *

**Rear Admiral is one rank less than the Vic Admiral (Yuzuki is one of the yongest to get to this high of a rank! good on her!)**

**Hope you enjoyed :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey all, sorry I haven't updates in ages! I went on a holiday to India for a month and a half and between settling back in at home and getting ready for University this year writing the story had become forgotten :( However I am delighted to say that the next chappie is, finally, here! Also someone pointed out my grammatical and punctual errors and I'm really sorry if it annoys you (it annoys me too) but I suck at it! English and I do not mix! I'll try be more attentive to the errors in the future ;P**

* * *

"I have found you" the figure said menacingly "Ah, you are here too? Rear Admiral Yuzuki"

Yuzuki narrowed her eyes at the man as he continued "Or should I say Vice Admiral? Haha. Oh, I'm sorry, did I expose your secret?" The man taunted as he came closer to the three. Yuzuki gritted her teeth. She recognised the man, he was hard to forget, that cocky attitude and egotistical mind. "You two go and get to the ship, I'll take care of this guy" she said. Her voice sounding to Sanji more like an order than a request but he hesitated "You sure you're gonna be okay with this guy?" he asked looking him up and down.

"I'll be fine. Go!"

With that Sanji and Luffy ran ahead. "Now why would I let that happen?" the man said and he went to stop the two boys from escaping. Yuzuki extended her hand and a wave of water sped towards the man's legs causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. He scowled at Yuzuki and stood up slowly brushing himself off. "Now that wasn't very nice my dear Yuzuki"

"I am no property of yours Daichi."

"Ah, so you remember me? I am deeply honoured" he smiled slightly

"How could anyone forget that ugly face and disgusting personality of yours Daichi" His smile faded as his face contorted into a sneer. "You forget, I am in my element" Yuzuki said indicating at the rain. As soon as she said this a thick wad of mud hit her square in the stomach sending her flying backwards. She looked at him as he walked towards her tossing a ball of mud in the air. "Haha, I have changed since you last saw me" he goaded

"Not enough to rise in rank Commodore" she emphasised the last word. She took the opportunity of his furious state to unsheathe her hilt and transform it to the tow sickle weapon. She flicked one of the blades towards him and he narrowly dodged it. "Still have that strange weapon I see" he stated after the blade was returned to Yuzuki's hand.

"Glad you remember it. Maybe you remember the many times I beat you with it too!" she said as she lunged forward. Daichi was just in time to parry her attack with his own sword. "Why must you be so difficult?" he questioned thrusting his weapon towards her. Yuzuki blocked easily "I'm not being difficult! I left the Marines, for reasons I don't need to explain to you and I'm not going back" she took a swipe at him and her Kama embedded itself into his side. Yuzuki looked from her blade in his side to Daichi's shocked face. Her shock turned to horror as he pulled the blade further into his body forcing Yuzuki to move closer to him. Daichi smiled manically. "I finally have the power to defeat you with my Doro Doro no Mi abilities!" Yuzuki's arm was now touching Daichi's side which was now turning to mud. "Now the whole world will see that I deserved the promotion to Vice Admiral more than you!" Yuzuki tugged at her arm that was starting to make its way into Daichi's muddy body. She was being sucked inside him. Yuzuki tried to summon water to her trapped hand with no avail. "Haha" Daichi teased as she struggled to get free. "Your Mizo Mizo no Mi won't work on me! I am mud, you are water..." He sent a punch into her abdomen making her double over. His foot came flying down onto her shoulder and Yuzuki's arm was released from its muddy prison. "There is no way you can beat me!" he gave her a kick on the side and she cried out in pain. Satisfied he continued "For years I have tried to find a way for me to beat you and gain my rightful promotion in the Marines, the one that was give to you instead. I didn't help that you knew the high ranking officers personally..." he was too busy babbling with his back to her that he didn't notice Yuzuki slowly stand up. She dusted herself off and spat the blood out of her mouth. "Nice speech" she interrupted smirking causing Daichi to spin around in surprise "You... but... I..." he spluttered

"But I fail to realise what any of this has to do with me now" she continued. Daichi, having regained his composure, lunged again at Yuzuki. _'If I touch him then he'll just stop me with his mud... and I can't use water because he'll just absorb it... what the hell do I do?!'_ she thought as she dodged his series of onslaughts. She backward flipped away from him and landed a few meters away from him puffing. _'Damn it! I have to finish this fast or we won't be able to escape Loguetown!'_ she stood up straight and looked around thinking of an idea. She gasped _'Why didn't I think of that before!? It's so obvious! I can't attack him with water because mud is earth and water, but...'_ she smirked as she formulated the plan in her mind. "Ah! Ready to give up and let me take you in I see. Your bounty alone will make me rich and if I capture you they will surely make me a Vice Admiral, or maybe even Admiral" he yelled to her. She raised an eyebrow at his assumption. _'What an idiot'_ she thought as she stretched a hand out in front of herself with her palm facing Daichi. She smirked at the look of confusion on his face then quickly clenched her hands into fists. In the seconds following Daichi and Yuzuki stared at each other. Moments went by and suddenly Daichi started laughing "I thought you were going to use a powerful water move on me but nothing's happening" he exclaimed laughing his head off but Yuzuki's smile never faded. Daichi continued to laugh at his rival's apparent failure to use her devil's fruit power to defeat him. "You should have defeated me when you had the chance. I will show you how it's really done!" Daichi roared raising his arms above his head letting out a yell as he surged his arms forward towards her. A puff of dust shot from his hands only reaching a distance of a few centimetres before drifting to the ground. Daichi's smile faded as he waved his arms around trying to summon his mud abilities. "Mud is only earth without water. So I decided to take the water out of your mud. Daichi's eyes visibly widened in fear. He turned and started to run away, stumbling as he went. Yuzuki pulled her fist closer to her body causing a large amount of water to evaporate from Daichi's body. Daichi's retreating form collapsed to the ground. She could see his body still moving "Still alive. Some water should fix him up" she muttered as she turned towards the direction of the ship and started to run.

~~**~~

"Hurry up!" Zoro yelled angrily dragging Luffy with him

"Ah?! What's going on?!" Luffy exclaimed, confused

"Oi Luffy, did you know what that guy was on about before" Sanji asked, Luffy was too busy wondering about the rain to and what had happened to answer "I hope she's alright" Sanji muttered to himself.

"Luffy!" yelled Usopp as the trio arrived at the ship "Hurry up, holding this rope is using up my strength!"

"Nami chan! We're back!" Sanji wailed

"Hurry up, we have to go now!" Nami reinforced. The three males made their way quickly onto the ship. "Hey, wasn't Yuzuki with you?" Nami questioned. Sanji and Luffy paused and blinked a few times while Zoro looked uninterested. "You mean she's not here?" Sanji exclaimed.

"Hn, who cares, we have to leave now or else the Marines will be on us" Zoro stated

"What do you mean? And leave her here? What kind of man are you, leaving a beautiful woman stranded here" Sanji yelled angrily at Zoro grabbing his collar

"I heard what she said to that guy!" Zoro yelled angrily back

~~**~~

Yuzuki ran around a corner and was faced with a group of marines. "Hey! There she is!" one of them exclaimed and they all turned to face her, guns at the ready. "Oh crap" she muttered before getting to a fighting stance. She summoned a stream of water from her katana sheath and shaped it into a whip. She manoeuvred the whip through the air towards a marine hitting him on the face. She turned and sent it towards another and then another until there was a few less marines standing in front of her. One of the men must have called for reinforcements because when she brought the water back to her sheath there were more standing in front of her than there was to start with.

"Careful men." The one who looked like the lead officer cautioned his men "She is a wanted criminal with a 40,000,000 Beli bounty" at the statement many of the officers shook in fear.

'_I need to get to that ship now!'_

~~**~~

"That's what she said" Zoro said to Sanji, Nami and Usopp. Luffy was busy looking over the banister for his sister.

"We have to go now or else the Marines will get us!" Usopp yelled

"No! Yuzuki's not here yet!" Luffy yelled at his crew

"Dammit Luffy, weren't you just listening to what I said?" Zoro said angrily "She's..." but he was interrupted by the crash of a wave from a street nearby and the screams of terrified people. The wave, which carried many marine officers, reached their line of vision and they saw Yuzuki running behind it towards the ship. "Hurry and get the ship moving!" yelled and the crew wasted no time in setting sail. Yuzuki ran to the edge of the docks right next to the ship and jumped. She realised only after she jumped that the ship was too far away for her to make it. Just as she was about to start falling to the water a hand grabbed her by the waist and pulled her over to the ship. Yuzuki let out a sigh "Thanks Luffy" to which his reply was a cheesy smile and a little laugh. Yuzuki was about to help the others on the ship when a hand grabbed her roughly and sent her slamming into the cabin wall. "Hey! What the hell was that for!?" she screamed at her assailant.

"Don't act all dumb, I heard what you said to that guy, traitor" Zoro spat at her

"What are you talking about?" she asked trying to move away from the wall, but his hand gripped her tighter and she winced at the pain it caused.

"You. Working with the Marines. So what? You were planning to lead the marines to us so they could capture and imprison us? Is that right Vice Admiral Yuzuki"

"What!? Yuzuki would never do that Zoro!" Luffy yelled

"How did you..." she was cut off

"I heard your little talk with your boyfriend" he snarled "so what was it?" Nami, Sanji and Usopp had all stopped their work to hear the argument.

"Is that what you think? That I would sell you all out to the bloody marines?" she asked quietly "Fine! I'll tell you! Everyone listen up. Yes, it is true I was a part of the marines and yes I was Vice Admiral. Now you're probably thinking how I got to be a Vice Admiral. It's because I was taken at age eleven to the marine headquarters and forced to train and use my devils fruit ability for the benefit of the marines." Tears started running down her face but they mixed with the rain that continued to pour down on all of them. "That guy you saw was Daichi. He envied me from the day he met me, I was younger than he and moved up the ranks fast. And he the arrogant idiot is not my boyfriend! You are hugely mistaken Zoro" she spat at him wrenching his hand off her shoulder "if you think I would help the marines after all they put me through!" The deck was silent except for the howl of the wind and the sound of rain droplets hitting the deck. Yuzuki started to walk away when she suddenly started to feel weak. A searing pain flowed through her whole body and a blood curdling scream escaped her lips before she hit the ground and all went black.

~~~**~~~

A six year old girl lay atop a piece of drift wood somewhere at sea. Her long brown hair sheltered most of her body from the fiery sun. In the distance her home land remained nothing but a distant memory of the world. The girl was barely conscious as she heard the gentle sound of the sea around her.

The girl awoke on a bed in a warm room. She was wrapped in a large coat that was many sizes too big for her. She hesitantly sat up and let her feet touch the warm wooden floor. _'Where am I?'_ she wondered as she tugged the coat tighter around herself and stood up. She exited the room to find a long corridor and walked slowly to the end. She heard voices coming from a room so she stopped to listen trying to determine if she was in a place that had helpful people in it or not.

"Now on to the matter of the girl we just picked up" a deep boisterous male voice said "Have you got a name?"

"Not yet, she is still sleeping in your cabin. Poor thing, looks like she was out at sea for a while. Did you find anything out?" a female voice answered

'_I must be on a ship if she mentioned a cabin...'_ she thought to herself

"Yes, well she looked like she had only been afloat for a day or two making her homeland not too far from where we picked her up..." another male voice answered trailing off

"And, where would that be?" the first voice asked

"Well take a look for yourself" the second male voice said. She heard a shuffle of movement as the people inside the room moved to see what the second person was showing. She heard the sound of glass breaking and hushed whispers. There seemed to be many people in the room. '_This might not be a good place to stay after all'_ the girl thought '_they were talking about me! I'm sure of it'_ She turned to leave the door and only got a few steps away when the door swung open and men in uniform started piling out. She stood frozen to the spot and the steps behind her also stopped. The girl turned around in horror as she was faced with a dozen high rank looking marines. The marine's faces were frozen in surprise and the girl dashed away from them running towards the main deck. _'Marines!? What the heck!?'_ the girl thought as she ran up the stairs to the main deck. Voices yelled behind her but she didn't hear what they said. She burst out on to the deck of the ship and her eyes widened in shock, not at how big it was but by how many marine officers stood there. They all turned to her when she slammed the door open and the whole deck was silent. The girl turned slightly at the voices behind her and ran to the banister of the ship. The high ranking marines came through the door and stood in a group looking at her. One of them walked forwards, he was a big man with a grey beard and moustache and looked as though he was missing a coat. _'I must be wearing his coat'_ she thought before shaking her head clearing her mind. She raised an arm and a column of water raised itself behind her. The marines on deck screamed in amazement and horror at the water column. The man that was approaching her however did not see the gigantic column of water and kept moving forwards. The girl threw her hand down sending the water into the old man and knocking him off his feat in a swirl of sea water. The deck fell silent as the old man was brought to the ground by a wave summoned by the girl. To the girl's amazement the man didn't get angry at her like she was used to, he didn't even attack her back, and he just started to laugh. His laugh rang in the girl's ear like a happy barking dog. "You have an unusual talent I see" the man said after he finished laughing "What's your name?" The girl slowly walked to the now wet man, aware that all eyes were on her, and handed him his coat back "My name is... Yuzuki"

~~**~~~

Yuzuki awoke on a bed in a small room _'Well this is nostalgic'_ she thought as the room rocked slowly back and forwards. Looking around she figured that she was in the girl's cabin on the Merry Go. There was still a stinging pain at the base of her neck and she rubbed at it furiously. Yuzuki slowly got up from the bed and put her shoes back on before going outside. The storm was letting up but it was still raining hard. Yuzuki pushed open the door and went on to the deck letting the rain wash over her. The water helped push some of the pain from her and she felt better, it was nice to be in her element.

"Hey Yuzuki!" Luffy yelled from his perch at the front of the ship "You're all better!" he exclaimed smiling.

She gave him a smile back "A little" The rest of the crew gave her reassuring nods and smiles too showing her that they understood what she had said before and she smiled back at them.

Yuzuki made her was to where everyone was standing at the front of the ship but Zoro stopped her "Hey... Um... Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked

She looked at him "Yea..."

"Hey look I'm sorry I accused you of... you know..." he started fidgeting and muttered some things. A smile creped its way onto Yuzuki's face and she started giggling at his attempt of apology. He looked at her seriously "Hey! Here I am trying to apologise and all you do is laugh!" he yelled angrily making Yuzuki laugh harder. Zoro had a murderous look in his eyes.

"You needn't apologise" she said still giggling "You had just reason to assume what you did and I don't blame you. I should have told you guys about my past" she said. "I was just afraid of what you all would have thought of me..."

"It wouldn't have mattered what you had done in your past" Sanji cut in.

"Yea, you're right"

"Hey everyone look! It's a lighthouse!"

"At the end of the light is the entrance of the Grand Line!" Yuzuki told them

"So?" Nami asked no one in particular

"Shall we start the ceremony for entering the ocean?" Sanji suggested placing a barrel in the middle of the group.

"Don't any of you feel anything in the middle of a storm!" Usopp complained.

"I want to find All Blue!" Sanji stared off putting his foot on top of the barrel.

"I want to become the Greatest Pirate and find One Piece!" Luffy exclaimed also putting his foot on the barrel

"I want to become the World's Greatest Swordsman!" Zoro said confidently

"I want to draw a map of the world!" Nami cried out

"I want to become a Brave Warrior of the Sea!" Usopp yelled out

They all looked at Yuzuki. She took a deep breath... "I want to regain my lost memories and to find out what happened to my homeland!" Yuzuki shouted out

They all smiled at each other hoping for their own and their crew mates goals to be fulfilled on their journey.

"Let's go! To the Grand Line!" they yelled together.

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Sorry its short, but ill try have another chapter up asap! please review and tell me how im going! love to hear from all of u!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey all. sorry if this chappie is not up ot scratch, BUT now the crew are in the Grand Line so from here its all go! Hope u like this one and ill e as soon as i can :)

* * *

Yuzuki was talking to Nami when Luffy yelled "Nami emergency! The light form the lighthouse disappeared!" he was hanging upside down at the bow of the ship, his legs wrapped around the sheep figurehead. "That's bad because it was our guiding light"

"No, it's supposed to disappear" Yuzuki commented

"Yes, she's right, and that's why you need a navigator. Trust me, I can remember the way" Nami told Luffy

"You're good" Luffy complemented her

"Now can you get off that?" Nami asked

"No! I won't give you this seat!" Luffy exclaimed, climbing onto the sheep's head

"Who wants to sit there?!" Nami yelled back in frustration. Yuzuki giggled at her brother's childish antics. "We might be in trouble soon, the rumours must be true..." Nami said worriedly walking towards the kitchen.

Yuzuki looked at Luffy "Looks like we're in for one heck of a journey" she said to him before smiling and dragging him to the kitchen with her.

The Straw Hat crew assembled around the table. Nami stood at one end with a map in front of her, Yuzuki was on her left. Usopp sat next to Yuzuki and across from Zoro who sat next to Luffy and Sanji lent against the kitchen counter. "It seems that the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain." She stated seriously

"Mountain!?" Usopp repeated unnecessarily, they were all thinking it 'How is the entrance a mountain and if it is how do we get past it!?'

"At first I thought it was impossible, but look at this" she said indicating to the map "The place the guiding light was pointing to was Reverse Mountain on the Red Line"

"What? Do you mean that we will hit the mountain!?"

"Hey Yuzuki, you must know, how do we get past the mountain?" they all looked at her expectantly

"WHAT? How to hell do I know?" she said giving them a horrified look

"WHAT?!" they all yelled at her

"But you must know! You were in the Marines! You must have gone to the Grand Line and back!" Zoro yelled at her

"Yea, but I've never been this way!" she yelled back. She grabbed the map from Nami and took a look. "Look there is a canal here" she showed them

"A canal? Don't be stupid" Usopp said "There is no way that a ship can go up that mountain"

"That's what the map says" Nami said

"Yes, don't you trust Nami and Yuzuki?" Sanji asked

"You stole that map from Buggy, you sure it's accurate?" Zoro asked incredulously

"Wow, using a ship to cross a mountain. Sounds interesting. So it's a mystery mountain!"

Zoro rubbed his head "What is the reason of going to the Grand Line by using this entrance? If we head further south you can go to the Grand Line too, right"

"That's a bad idea Zoro!" Luffy said pointing at him

"He's right, there is a reason for that. It's because..." Yuzuki was cut off

"We're supposed to go to the Grand Line through that entrance because it's cool! Luffy exclaimed

"That's not the reason" Nami said punching him in the head

"Look! The storm's gone" Usopp said grabbing everyone's attention. Nami gasped looking at Yuzuki who was thinking the same thing.

"We're in deep trouble now. This must be the Calm Belt!" Nami said running outside

"Calm Belt?"

" What's that?"

"Hey look. There's still a heavy storm over there, but here there is no wind at all"

"Shut up and prepare to row!" Nami yelled angrily at the boys "We're going back to the storm!"

"Hai, Nami swan!" Sanji yelled

"Why do we have to hurry? You told us to row, but this isn't a row boat" Luffy asked

"Why do we have to go back to the storm?" Usopp whined

"Shut up and just do it!" Nami yelled

'_She's quite scary sometimes...'_Yuzuki thought

"Why do we want to go back over there? The weather is nice here." Zoro asked

Nami was fuming at the boy's unwillingness to cooperate. "Hey Nami, don't worry, I'll explain to him" Yuzuki said kindly.

"Look ,Zoro, the ship is now heading south just like you wanted..." Yuzuki started

"Oh, so we're in the Grand Line now?" he cut her off

"If it's that easy to get to the Grand Line then there would be more people coming this way!" Nami yelled at him

"The Grand Line is surrounded by two seas one of which is the Calm Belt, the sea without wind!" Yuzuki continued

"You're right, there is no wind at all" Zoro said "So what?"

"Because this sea is..." Nami started angrily but was stopped as the entire ship started to shake

"Ah! An earthquake!" Luffy yelled

"Don't be stupid, we're in the middle of the ocean!" Usopp yelled

The ship started to rise and the Straw Hats looked around and saw a giant eye. They all screamed in shock and fear.

"This sea is... the Giant Sea Monsters nest" Yuzuki told them all. The Going Merry was sitting atop a Giant Sea Monster's nose and its crew were holding on to the ship for dear life. "As soon as the monster dives we start rowing as fast as we can, understood?" Zoro ordered and the rest nodded in agreement. The ship started shaking again and the sound of a giant sneeze surrounded them as the sea monster the ship was on sneezed sending the ship flying through the air. The Straw Hats flew all over the ship as it tumbled through the air. "Hold on!"

Yuzuki latched on to a beam of the ship as it went vertical

"The giant frog is following us!"

"Usopp is falling!"

"Usopp!"

Yuzuki saw Usopp yelling and falling towards the mouth of the giant frog. She let go of the beam so she could use both of her hands forming a wave to hit the giant frog away. The ship hit the water right way up and the crew hit the deck "We're safe now! We came back to the storm" Luffy said as he lay in the deck next to Usopp.

"Now do you understand why we have to use the mountain entrance?" Nami asked Zoro

"Yes, I understand" he answered dejectedly

"Yea thanks for helping guys" a voice came from over the railing. They all looked around for the source of the voice. Yuzuki pulled herself over the banister and sat exhaustedly against it puffing.

"Hey Yuzuki, thanks for saving me from that giant frog" Usopp managed to croak out from his spot in the deck.

"It was nothing" she said waving him off

"I got it!" Nami said suddenly "We have to go up it"

"You still thinking about that?" Zoro asked annoyed

"If the waves from all the oceans head up that mountain then it would create a stream!" Nami said excitedly "The stream will push water up the canal and them at the top it will push it all down to the Grand Line. So the ship goes up the mountain by the stream power. The only problem will be to control the rudder..."

"If we can't control the ship to the entrance then we will hit the mountain and sink" Yuzuki told them

"So... that means it's a magic mountain?" Luffy asked

"It seems you don't understand it" Nami deadpanned

"You are so cool Nami-san!" Sanji cooed

"I never heard of a ship that could climb a mountain" Zoro said sceptically

"I've heard something about it" Sanji told him

"About the magic mountain?"

"No, about the Grand Line. The say that half the wannabes trying to get in die trying, so it's not gonna be an easy job"

"Hey! I see the magic mountain! It's huge!" Luffy yelled to the crew and everyone went to stand next to him.

"There is too mush fog surrounding it, we can't see anything"

"Allow me" Yuzuki said easily shifting the fog from the entrance so they could all see it.

"Take a deep breath and hold the rudder tight!" Luffy ordered and Sanji and Usopp scrambled over to the rudder.

"Hey it's getting off route! Turn right!" Luffy told the two at the rudder

"The rudder is so heavy!" Usopp said as they tried to manoeuvre it. There was a soft creaking noise a then a loud snap as the rudder broke. Luffy's eyes bulged.

"The rudder broke!"

"We're gonna hit the gate!"

"Gomu gomu no Fuusen!" Luffy yelled as he inflated himself up and wedged himself between the ship and the mountain wall. The ship bounced off him and went between the gate and into the cannal.

"We're safe!" Nami yelled happily

"Grab my hand Luffy!" Zoro yelled at him and Luffy stretched his arm and pulled himself back onto the ship.

"We did it!"

The ship climbed the mountain and in no time they were near the top. The crew were dispersed around the ship watching as the ship went up the mountain "I see the Grand Line!" Luffy yelled from his place on the figure head as they reached the top. Yuzuki smiled at her brother from her spot in the crows nest with Sanji and Usopp near her.

"BO"

"Did you hear something?" Yuzuki asked the boys next to her. They both shrugged.

"Hey? What do you think that is?" Sanki asked pointing at a shadow in the distance

"No idea" Yuzuki said squinting "I'll go down and see if the others know" she launched herself over the crows nest grabbing a rope half way down and landing next to Zoro. "Is it still there Sanji?" she asked him

"Yea!"

"Nami, there is something blocking our way"

"It looks like a mountain" Sanji piped up

"That's impossible. After this getting through this passage there is only sea"

"BO"

Suddenly something emerged from the water "It's not a mountain! It's a huge whale!" Yuzuki said

"What are we gonna do?" Usopp asked fearfully

"Fight?" Luffy suggested

"Are you nuts? We can't fight a huge whale!" Nami yelled at him

"But it's blocking our way" Luffy said

"Hang on, I can't see its eyes. Where are it's eyes?" Sanji questioned

"Maybe it hasn't noticed us yet" Nami said

"But we're gonna hit it. It would be safer for us to go to that passage on the left" Zoro said "someone control the rudder!"

"But the rudder broke!" Usopp reminded him

"Yes! I have come up with some good ideas" Luffy said triumphantly

Yuzuki looked at him as he ran off "Um... I don't think... Arg! He won't listen anyway" she said moving closer to the front of the ship. She got in a position and started to use her power over the water to manoeuvre the ship.

"Hey, look we're turning a little" Usopp noticed as he, Zoro and Sanji tried to move the rudder.

"Look, it's Yuzuki, she's using her devil's fruit power to turn the ship!"

There was a loud bang and the sound of a cannon flying through the air. "What the..?" Yuzuki looked around

"A cannon!?" the three boys yelled in unison

The ship was slowing down. Nami crouched down "We're gonna die!" The figure head of the Going Merry snapped off and toppled backwards missing Nami. Yuzuki moved out of the way just in time as the figurehead slid onto the deck. "That was a little too close for comfort" Yuzuki said, having nearly being squashed by the ram head.

"My special seat" Luffy yelled as the figurehead slid past him.

"I see the eye now guys" Yuzuki said fearfully as the whale's eye opened to look around but did nothing.

There was a frantic rush on the ship "Let's get out of here!"

"Didn't the whale feel the cannon ball it was just hit by?"

"BO" the sound rang in their ears

The ship was moving a fast as it could go. Yuzuki heaved a sigh of relief '_We're nearly safe'_She looked over to Luffy and saw the look on his face. In an instant all relief left her face to be filled with concern and worry "Luffy? Are you..."

"You destroyed my special seat!" Luffy yelled at the whale

Yuzuki gasped "No, no, it's okay Luffy. We can..." she was too late and Luffy kicked the whale in the centre of it's eye "...fix it" she said the last two words dejectedly falling to the ground into a sitting position.

"YOU IDIOT!" the rest of the crew yelled

The whale's eye looked down at them "Come and get a piece of me you stupid whale!" Luffy taunted

"Shut up!" and Luffy was kicked in the head but it was too late and the damage was done. The whale opened its mouth and the ship was sucked into the mouth of the whale.

"Luffy!" Yuzuki yelled as she saw him falling off the ship as it was swallowed.

~~**~~

"Is this a dream?" Nami asked

"Yes, maybe it's a dream"

The ship had been swallowed by the whale but in front of them was a small island. It had to be a dream, there was no way that an island could be inside of a whale.

"Maybe its and illusion?" Yuzuki suggested. There was a splash in front of them and something rose out of the water.

"A giant squid!" Nami and Usopp screamed and ran away from the giant thing. The squid latched on to the front of the ship. Zoro, Sanji and Yuzuki prepared themselves to fight the squid off but the it was pierced by harpoons and pulled ashore.

"Someone is here" Zoro warned

"I hope he's a good man" Sanji stated

"The harpoon came from that island" said Yuzuki "Someone's coming out of the house"

"A flower!" Sanji yelled

"What?"

"No, it's a human" Sanji corrected himself

They watched as the man who saved them from the squid sat down on the beach chair and started to read the news paper

"Can't you say anything?!" Sanji yelled angrily at him. The man just looked at them blankly

""If you want to fight us we aren't scared of you! We have a cannon!" Usopp yelled at the old man

"Don't even think about it or someone will die" the man said seriously

"Who will die?" asked Sanji curiously

"Me" he said simply

"You're pissing me off!"

"Calm down you guys" Yuzuki scolded

" Who are you and what is this place?" Zoro asked the old man

"Before you ask questions shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" the man asked

"You're right, sorry" Zoro apologised

"My name is Claucus. I am seventy one years old, a Pisces, blood type AB, care taker of the lighthouse" he went on

"Can I kill him?" Zoro yelled angrily

"Calm down" Yuzuki said softly putting a hand on his shoulder

"You asked what this place was? You were swallowed by the giant whale and brought to my one-man resort. You think this is a rat's stomach?" Claucus said sending Nami and Usopp in to panic "The exit is just over there" he added pointing to a big door behind them.

"You have an exit? How can you have an exit in the whale's stomach?"

"There is a sky over the door" Nami observed

"And clouds" Usopp added

"It's a picture"

"This whale is pretty playful" the old man said

"What are you doing in here?" Usopp yelled at the old man

"Don't worry about him, let's get out of here" Zoro told him

The ship started to sway violently "What's happening?"

"It begins" They heard the old man say

"What's beginnig? Tell us"

"This whale is using its head to hit the red line" Claucus said

"So that's what those marks on its head were from." Yuzuki said

"He pulled his head up to the sky to cry" said Nami

"What does that mean?" Usopp asked them

"It means he's sad" Yuzuki said sadly

"The mystery is solved; now let's get out of here before we are digested" Zoro said

The old man jumped into the water and started swimming "He jumped in! What is he thinking? He could get digested!" Usopp yelled

"We better hurry up before the whale gets mad again" Zoro suggested

Suddenly there was a crash from above followed by a yell. "That sounds like Luffy!" Yuzuki yelled running to the railing to see

"Everyone's safe? Anyway save me first!" Luffy yelled as he fell

"Luffy and two strange humans?"

"Look, that old man's escaping" Usopp pointed

"Dont worry about him, we gotta save Luffy first" Zoro said

"So what are you waiting for?" Yuzuki asked him "Go save them" she said pushing Zoro over the railing and into the water. She turned to glare at Sanji and he went to help him.

~~**~~

Once everyone was safely on the deck of the Going Merry Yusuki used her Mizo Mizo no Mi to remove the water from everyone's clothes, although no one really seemed to notice.

"So who are you?" Nami asked the two new comers.

"As long as I'm alive I won't let anyone touch this whale" they heard the old man say from above

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luffy asked confused

"Haha" the two unknown people laughed

"But we are inside the whale now!" the man yelled

"That means we can destroy the stomach..." the lady started

"... and get out of here" the man finished

Yuzuki raised her eyebrows at what they said '_weird...'_ The two raised their cannon guns and shot in unison at the whale's stomach wall. The old man jumped from the ledge he was on and intercepted the cannon balls.

"He used himself as a shield to protect the whale" Usopp said in amazement

"It's useless old man!" the woman yelled

"No matter what this whale will be food for our town!" the man yelled

"What the heck is going on here?" Yuzuki wondered aloud

Luffy went behind the two newcomers and punched them in the head knocking them out. "Anyway, lets lake care of them first" said Luffy.

~~**~~

They all went to the old man's island and tied up the two trouble makers. "This is an Irish whale from west blue" Claucus started the tale "It's the largest species of whale in the world and his name is Laboon. And these people are hooligans who came from a town near here. They want to kill Laboon because Laboon's meat will save them for two to three years" he told them the story of Laboon and how he was left by his pirate friends who went to travel the Grand Line.

"So that's why he hits his head and cries? To get to the other side?" Nami asked

"That's right. It has been years now. He still believes his friends are alive"

~~**~~

"I see the real sky!" Luffy exclaimed from his usual spot on the figure head. The Straw Hats, Claucus and the two unknown people had been sailing towards the mouth of the whale. Once they had escaped they wondered what they were going to do to the two troublemakers and ended up tossing them overboard.

"I really think we should have kept them onboard" Yuzuki said as the two swam away "they could come back to kill the whale"

"If we kept them here they would have just sent more people to do the job" Claucus said.

They made their way to the light house and disembarked. Yuzuki barely hear what the others were saying, the only thing she knew was that they were talking about Laboon's story. She sat with her back facing the others and looking out to the sea. She had gotten used to the pain in her neck but it still hurt. The only thing she could deduce was that the more she used her fruit abilities the more pain she felt. She sat there knowing on the inside of her lip trying to figure out what was causing the pain. Luffy's yell snaped her out of her thinking and she turned to see Luffy running at the large whale with a broken piece of the mast from their ship.

"We can't let him out of our sight for one minute" Sanji said in a monotone

"I have reached your forehead!" Luffy proclaimed as her jumped onto said place on the whale. Then, without warning, Luffy stabbed the whale with the mast. Laboon wailed in agony with the mast embedded in his forehead while Luffy hung on to it for dear life.

"What the hell is that moron doing?!" everyone but Yuzuki yelled.

Yuzuki looked at her brother in awe. "He... he's..."

Laboon jumped from the ocean and dived head first onto the land. "That kid!" Claucus yelled worriedly

"Don't worry about him, he won't die" Nami informed him.

Luffy then proceeded to dodge and punch Laboon while he attacked him. "What is he thinking" Usopp asked himself. Luffy was sent flying into the wall of the mountain. The boys were ready to stop Luffy's crazy actions but Yuzuki splashed them with a wave of water. The three looked at her confused. "Just wait" she urged.

"We are even now!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs so the giant whale could hear "We don't know the result of this fight, so we have to fight again in the future. Your friends already died, but I am still alive" he continued. Tears started welling up in the whale's eyes. "We will travel around the Grand Line. And we will come back to see you again! Let's fight again next time!" he roared the last part. Yuzuki smiled at her brother _'amazing!_'

* * *

So hope it was okay... from now the chappies will get better (i hope)

dont forget to review and give me constructive criticism (this story is for u, tell me what u want improved ect) and if any one has any ideas for OC villains or what i could do to the plot just pm me and ill consider your ideas!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey all, sorry this took a while but i prob wont be able to update as frequently at the moment due to the enormous mountain of work in assignments and notes that is university! its ridiculus! anyway, hope u like this one and ill try to update asap as time permits.**

**Thanks! :)**

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_Yuzuki was sitting on deck by herself reading a large book, like she normally did. None of the marines on the ship were brave enough to go near her since she showed her power on the day she arrived and since then she had made herself quite at home. _

"_Land ho!" _

_At this she looked up quickly, to confirm that the ship as indeed heading towards an island. _

"_Miss Yuzuki?" a timid voice asked behind her "the Vice Admiral would like to see you in his office" he squeaked before running off. Yuzuki frowned and sniffed her shoulder 'Do I smell or something?' she shrugged and jumped down from her seat._

"_Hello there Yuzuki!" the Vice Admiral boomed as she entered the room "Pack some of your things and meet me on deck" _

_Yuzuki looked at the beaming old man and nodded before exiting the room. She dashed to her cabin and gathered her belongings into a small pouch. She slipped it over her head and wore it on one shoulder so that the pouch rested on her hip._

_Yuzuki stood on deck waiting for the Vice Admiral wondering where they were heading. "Come along Yuzuki" the giant marine boomed and she complied jumping into the row boat with him. _

"_Yuzuki, I'm gonna introduce you to my grandson" They were standing outside a house on the island they had come to. The Vice Admiral opened the door and strolled into the house with Yuzuki following "Luffy! Come out! There's someone I want you to meet!" Yuzuki jumped at his booming voice. Nothing. "Hn, well I'll go look for him, you stay here and make yourself at home" he said to Yuzuki before heading out the door._

"_He gone?" a tiny voice squeeked_

_Yuzuki looked around to find the source of the voice. "Yea, he's gone" She heard a relieved sigh and shuffling of feet. A boy, no older than herself, come out from a trap door in the floor. "Hi, I'm Luffy!" he said excitedly "Who are you?"_

"_I'm Yuzuki. Nice to meet you"_

"_How old are you?"_

"_I'm six, but I turn seven soon!" Yuzuki replied proudly_

"_Haha! I just turned seven! I'm older than you!" he teased making Yuzuki frown making Luffy laugh even more. Yuzuki couldn't hold it in any more and started to laugh with him as he rolled on the floor. The laughing ceased as a fist connected with Luffy's body "I've been looking for you everywhere you little brat!" the marine yelled at his grandchild_

"_G...g... grandpa!" Luffy sputtered_

"_I see you have met Yuzuki already. She will be staying here from now" Yuzuki looked up at the marine with an expression that only resembled that of gratefulness and worry._

~~~****~~~

"This is a sign of a promise between you and me" Luffy said admiring his work. Yuzuki shook her head _'He never ceases to amaze me' _she thought laughing. She looked up at the painting on the whale's head and cringed turning to the rest of the crew "Well at least it's a way to stop the poor thing from hurting itself further" she said before siting down on a log. The straw hats were all doing their own things; Nami was attempting to plan their route, Sanji was preparing meat for the journey, Usopp was making an effort to fix the ship and Zoro was lounging about and sleeping. Yuzuki decided that she could be of some help to Nami, since she had already sailed the Grand Line numerous times before. "Hey Nami, I..." but she was cut off by a scream.

"What's wrong? Why are you screaming?" Luffy asked

"What happened Nami-swan? If you are hungry the food is ready now!" Sanji wailed

"Why don't I take a break now" Usopp suggested to himself

"The compass is broken! I won't stop spinning!" Nami exclaimed

"I told you that you cannot use commonsense here. Your compass is not broken, rather it won't work here" Crocus said irritably

"Isn't there a magnetic field?" Nami asked

"It is, but every island is the main source of many elements of the Grand Line and it's creating a huge magnetic field that covers every inch of this place" Crocus explained. Nami and Yuzuki were the only ones paying attention to the elderly man while the boys were engrossed in eating the food Sanji had just prepared.

"Besides, the sea and wind here are uncertain. If you are a true navigator then you should know about the danger of this place. If you go out there with no knowledge then you will surely die!" Crocus said before walking off

"He's right, if we don't know the direction we will be helpless" Yuzuki said

"I don't know how to solve this problem" Nami said dejectedly

"This is bad! How will we survive now?" Usopp panicked

"Even though you don't know you are still beautiful" Sanji swooned

"What is bad?" Luffy asked, not knowing what they were talking about.

"Can you two shut up!" Nami yelled angrily at Sanji and Usopp

"Are you telling me you don't have a log pose?" Yukuzi asked Nami

"What's that? I've never heard of a log pose before"

"If you want to travel the Grand Line you must have a log pose" Crocus said sitting down

"It's a special compass designed for these seas" Yuzuki added

"You mean a strange compass?"Luffy asked

"It's shaped differently to a normal compass. Sorta like this..." Yuzuki opened up the pendant hanging around her neck to reveal that it was not a simple pocket watch but a strange looking container with a compartment on one side and an odd looking compass on the other "This is what a log pose looks like, but this one is defective, I think... I've tried using it but it doesn't work..."

"So it looks like this?" Luffy said and casually pulled out his own log pose

"Yes it looks like that" Crocus said to Luffy

"Without a log pose you can't travel the Grand Line, it's impossible, even the Marines need them" Yuzuki explained

"Okay just wait a minute here." Nami said before rounding on Luffy "How the hell did you get something like this!?" she yelled and punched him in the face. Luffy landed in a sitting position on the ground with the log pose in one hand and rubbing his head with the other. Yuzuki sighed as Nami interrogated Luffy about where he got the log pose from. Luffy gave Nami the log pose and she examined it trying to figure out how it worked. Crocus explained to them how the log pose worked and that each island had a different amount of time that the log pose needed to reset so that they could get to the next destination.

"Can we go now, I'm full" said Luffy

"What!? You ate the whole thing?" Sanji exclaimed

"He even ate the bones!" Usopp added. Yuzuki rolled her eyes smiling at her brother's antics. She heard Nami say something about taking care of the log pose before a fight erupted between Sanji and Luffy

"Dammit! You ate all the food I prepared for Nami-san and Yuzuki-chan!" Sanji yelled angrily and kicked Luffy in the face. Yuzuki moved out of the way, just in time, as Luffy flew past her and froze when she saw the look on Nami's face. Nami's eye twitched as she looked at the broken log pose on her wrist and Yuzuki cringed, knowing what was about to come.

"Why don't both of you go calm down in the sea!" Nami screamed and kicked them both into the water.

"Nami! Why did you have to do that? You know Luffy can't swim..." Yuzuki yelled, sweat dropping when she saw that Nami wasn't listening. Yuzuki took in a deep breath and sighed. She flicked her wrist in the direction of the sea and made a wave crash onto the land they were standing on. "You two okay?" she asked Sanji and Luffy as they lay on the ground panting "Eh?" she added when she saw two other people laying next to them. Luffy and Sanji also looked at the other two and Sanji immediately jumped up to offer a hand "Please, give me your hand Miss Wednesday" he said

"Err, thank you..." Miss Wednesday said timidly taking Sanji's hand

"Hey!" the other person said "I would like to ask for your help"

"Yuzuki-chwan!" Sanji wailed glomping her "you are so cool, you saved us!" he admired squeezing her in a hug

"Ack... Sanji, get off!" Yuzuki retaliated by splashing him with a little water. He let go quickly and looked at her lovingly grabbing her hand

"If there is anything I can do to..." he started

"Um... maybe later" she said smiling timidly

"Whisky Peak? What is it?"

"That's the name of our town" Mr 9 explained

"You don't have a ship, so you want us to take you there?"

"You were thinking about killing that whale, went you?" Nami asked slyly

"Tell us who you are" Usopp demanded

Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday got onto their knees "We can't tell you about that, but we really want to go back to our town!" Mr 9 said

"Please! We will repay you!" Miss Wednesday pleaded "Actually we don't want to do this job, but our company ordered us to, and we must keep the secret. We can't say anything. Everything is up to your kindness now"

'_Hm, this girl seems familiar, somehow....'_ Yuzuki thought as Miss Wednesday talked. Her mind was working overtime to try figure out how she knew this girl.

"But I broke your log pose. You still want to go with us now?" Nami revealed

"What!? You broke it? But that was mine!" Mr 9 yelled getting up

"This is too much! But you can't go anywhere now either!" Miss Wednesday screeched

"Oh, I forgot, Crocus-san gave me a new one" Nami said smirking

"Please" they both bowed again "our lives depend on you" Mr 9 begged

"You can come with us" Luffy stated sending Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday into a fit of greatfulness.

After a little preparation the straw hats, Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday boarded the ship. Yuzuki and Nami thanked Crocus for his help and the log pose. "I'm going now whale, and I'll be back!" Luffy yelled to Laboon, who replied with a happy "BO!"

Yuzuki smiled at her brother who smiled back at her goofily. She turned to see Zoro standing next to her

"Who are these two?" he asked her indicating Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday.

"Don't you know? Oh that's right, you were asleep, as usual!" she said looking at him. He kept staring at her and she sighed in defeat "they are Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday. Remember the guys that were trying to kill the whale to take the meat back to their town. We are giving them a ride to their town Whisky Peak" she said leaning on the barrister and looking towards the deck "They seem like nice enough people but... I just can't shake the feeling..." she whispered the last part to herself knowing that Zoro heard her although he did not peruse her thoughts.

~~**~~

The ship had been sailing for a while and was now in a winter area of the Grand Line. Everyone had donned their scarves, gloves and coats to brave the freezing temperatures. Luffy and Usopp were on the deck making snowmen or, in Usopp's case snowwomen while Yuzuki sat nearby circulating snow between her hands in a ball shape. Suddenly a heap of snow landed on Yuzuki, from a kick Luffy had sent towards Usopp's snow sculpture, covering her from head to toe. There was a slight pause then Yuzuki sent the snow off her in all directions covering all those on the deck with snow. "Luffy!" Yuzuki yelled "Look what you did! Now I'm drenched!" she stared at her brother while he just cracked a goofy grin and started to laugh causing Usopp and Yuzuki to join in.

"That's no way to treat a lady" Sanji's voice came from above before he dumped a shovel full of snow on Luffy's head. Yuzuki pulled all the water out of her clothes using her power over water and did the same to Luffy and Usopp so they wouldn't catch a cold.

"How long do you want me to keep shovelling the snow?" Sanji asked, taking a break from his work.

"Nami's not out here anymore" Yuzuki supplied, vaulting up onto the same level as Sanji "But I think that's enough now"

"Hai! Yuzuki-hime!" he wailed making her wrinkle her nose at the suffix

"Um... Sanji-kun" she started

"Yes my little flower"

"You know I would prefer if you just called me Yuzuki or something, just not hime..."

"Oh yes, sure!" he said merrily, smiling at her

"Okay then" she smiled back

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Yuzuki and Sanji looked around and saw Nami come bursting out of the cabin door

"Turn back one hundred and eighty degrees!" she yelled hysterically

"Why do we have to turn back" Usopp asked

"Did you forget something?" asked Luffy

"No, that's not it..." Yuzuki started eyes widening in realisation

"I didn't look at the log pose for a minute and the waves are calm..." Nami said frantically

"We're heading in the wrong direction!" Yuzuki yelled

They saw Nami turn for a second, fuming with anger and disappear into the room she had just came from. The sounds of her yelling and kicking sense into some people were heard and Yuzuki cringed, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't on the receiving end of her fury. Nami re-emerged and started barking orders at the boys to set the course of the ship right again. Everyone ran frantically around the ship trying to right its course.

"I see a dolphin over there, maybe we should take a look?" Usopp suggested.

"Ah! Nami-san, fog! And there's an ice berg ahead!" Sanji yelled

"What's wrong with this sea?!" Nami cried

"We hit an ice berg and now the ship's sprung a leak!" Yuzuki yelled over the crash of the waves

"Fix it Usopp!"

"Eat to keep your energy up!" Sanji told them "Your eating too much!" he directed at Luffy angrly

Yuzuki tried to manoeuvre as much water as she could off the ship while the others tried to pull up the sail as the snow storm raged around them.

The commotion on the ship never ceased until they had finally reached the safety of calm sea. The entire Straw Hat crew plus Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday lay on the deck, exhausted from the work they did to get the ship on course again.

"Hmmmm. That was a good sleep." Zoro said, stretching as he stood up. Zoro looked around the deck to see everyone collapsed on the ground "Hey! Even though it' such good weather, it's not good for everyone to be sleeping" he said which was meet with a series of groans. Yuzuki was sleeping with her head resting on Sanji's head and the sight, for some reason, irked him. He narrowed his eyes when he saw that Sanji was not sleeping at all and probably enjoying the fact that Yuzuki had collapsed on top of him. The sight of the two hitchhikers drew his attention away from Yuzuki and Sanji "What are you doing here?" he questioned

"We are taking them to their town" Luffy supplied from his perch on the railing above them.

Zoro knelt down to the two hitchhikers "You must be thinking about bad things now" he said menacingly making them cower in fear "What are your names again?"

"Mr 9", "Miss Wednesday" the both said nervously

"Your names reminded me of something when I first heard them... it seems I've heard them somewhere" he mused before Nami smacked him hard over the head

"You were having a good sleep, we've been trying to wake you for a long time" she said angrily

"Huh?" he asked angrily before she hit him on the head a few more times.

"Now everyone! You mustn't be sure about anything because we don't know what's going to happen next. Now I know why this is called the Grand Line. I also learnt a scary thing about this place, my navigation technique can't be used here!" Nami exclaimed

"Can we survive" Usopp muttered

"Yes, we must have, the evidence is over there, look" Nami answered him

"An island! With giant cacti!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Ah! Oni, can't you keep it down? I'm trying to rest..." Yuzuki whined tiredly, squeezing her eyes shut tighter.

"Island! Yuzuki! We're here!" Luffy exclaimed bouncing over to the unsuspecting girl and picking her up to twirl her around. She hung limply in his arms "Eh? What's wrong with her" he wondered. Yuzuuki groaned

"I'm just tired that's all" she admitted smiling weakly.

"We have to go now" Mr 9 announced, both he and Miss Wednesday jumped up onto the banister of the ship.

"We shall meet again, if we are destined to" Miss Wednesday added

"Bye bye" they said together and then jumped off the ship into the blue sea below

Luffy had set Yuzuki carefully down on the floor against a wall and was now discussing the island with Usopp. Yuzukki sighed, angry with herself at the effect of her tiredness.

'_Why did this have to happen? I've never gotten this tired from just using my powers before... Arg! What's wrong with me!?'_

"You okay?" someone asked her and Yuzuki looked up to see Zoro standing over her

"Y... yea, I'm fine. It's just.... never mind..." she wanted to tell him what was wrong but couldn't bring herself to trouble him with her own problems.

"Are you sure, because..."

"I will protect you Nami-swan and also Yuzuki-chwan!" Sanji exclaimed running over to the latter, knocking over Zoro in the process.

"Hey! Ero cook, watch what you're doing!" Zoro yelled a dark look coming across his eyes

"Oi, Marimo head, do I need to kick your ass?" Sanji retorted angrily

Yuzuki rolled her eyes, smiling slightly at the boy's pointless fight, and stood up slowly only to stagger and fall back down again

"Yuzuki-chan, are you alright?" Sanji asked worriedly, ceasing his argument with Zoro who was fuming

"Yea, I'm fine..."

"I'm gonna get some food into you as soon as we get to the island, okay?" Sanji helped her up as a roar of welcome from the island welcomed them

"Welcome to our island!"

The Straw Hats were all gathered at the front of the ship watching the people as they welcomed them to Whisky Peak. While the other Straw Hats marvelled at the warm welcome they were receiving Yuzuki was thinking along a different line _'Why are they welcoming us? There's something wrong here...'_ but before she could voice her worries to anyone the crew had disembarked and were already talking to the mayor of Whisky Peak

"We have a lot of liquor here. Please tell us about your journey. If you don't mind, I would like you to join us at a party" the tall curly haired man said.

"Sure!" Luffy, Sanji and Usopp agreed happily.

"How long will it take for the log pose to record the magnetic field of this island?" Nami asked the mayor

"Record? We'll talk about that once you have all rested up" the mayor told her "Everyone, lets party! Begin the music to welcome these brave warriors!" he exclaimed to the crowd. They all cheered as the festivities began.

Yuzuki was still on the ship, suspicious of the actions of the towns-people. She narrowed her eyes at the mayor _'I swear I recognise that man... and that woman from before... this is all too weird'_ she thought to herself.

"Come on Yuzuki!" a voice beckoned snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Uh... coming!" she replied jumping from the ship to the dock below and walking with her crew to the start of an eventful night.

* * *

**Hope that want too bad... I kina lost the plot with this one i think... :S**

**sorry for any grammer mistakes, but bare with 'the person who cant write to save herself' that is the writer of this. please review and tell me constructive critisism or praise anr what ever you think you need to ( more reviews will provoke me in updating quicker!! hint hint)**

**My bad, i used Claucus instead of Crocus in the last chapter, but hopefully u know who i meant**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this took along time to put up! I've been so busy and with writers block I just dont know what to do! hope you like this chapter. if you have any requestsof what you would like to see or any ideas of other OCs (i could use them) just send me a pm or something with name, affiliation, age, appearence, powers, origion and background and anything else you think is appropriate.**

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To say that Yuzuki was exhausted was an understatement. She was more than exhausted. At the moment she was sitting on the ground against a wall, observing the people in the room. Usopp was telling stories to a captivated audience, Zoro and Nami were participating in a drinking contest, Luffy was stuffing his face and Sanji was surrounded by girls. They were all enjoying themselves but Yuzuki couldn't help but think something was wrong about the situation.

'_None of the islands I know in the Grand Line EVER welcome pirates... What are these guys planning? And that woman before... she seems so familiar...'_ Yusuki thought. She took a sip from her mug of beer, although it was not in fact beer as she used her Mizu Mizu no Mi powers to separate the water from the alcohol. Yuzuki didn't like drinking, but no one needed to know that. Yuzuki was so tired that her eyes were drooping, her eyes closed as she slouched against the wall, oblivious to the noise around her, and slept.

Yuzuki awoke with a jolt. _'Shit'_ she thought, running to the bathroom as fast as she could. She slammed the door shut, covering her mouth with her hand just as a coughing fit started. She tried as hard as she could to stifle her cough, to no avail. Blood dripped from her hand as she moved it away from her mouth. _'Double shit, and I don't even have any tablets left!'_ She breathed in deeply to calm herself down _'I got to find a doctor, and quick!'_ she thought to herself while cleaning up, the coppery taste still in her mouth.

Yuzuki exited the bathroom and looked around the messy pub. _'These guys sure know how to party. I think I'll have a look around to see what this town is hiding'_ she decided heading to the door. Before she got a chance to open it she heard noised outside and listened

"I have investigated something about those kids" a male voice said. Yuzuki thought it sounded like the mayor but she couldn't be sure about it.

"WHAT?" exclaimed three voices at once. "Thirty million Beli!"

'_Ah, I guess they found Luffy's bounty poster'_ Yuzuki thought.

"Never mind, after we take care of them, we'll inform the boss" The man said "Hurry up and get their treasure off their ship and tie them up. If we kill them we will get less money because the government wants them alive to execute in front of people."

'_Hn, not if I have anything to say about it'_ Yuzuki thought opening the door to reveal her presence.

"Sorry" Yuzuki heard someone say "But I don't think you can do that, even though we are tired from our journey" Yuzuki looked to find Zoro perched on a roof across the road. Yuzuki heard footsteps behind her as a man came yelling towards the door "Mr 8, Miss Wednesday! Tw..." he never got to finish his sentence as Yuzuki turned quickly punching his gut. The man hunched over in pain, clutching his stomach and Yuzuki sent an elbow to his neck knocking him out cold.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people" she said nonchalantly as the man fell to the ground. The four who were talking, before they were interrupted, looked between Zoro and Yuzuki, the shock evident in their eyes.

"A real swordsman will never fall for a trick like that" Zoro continued, Yuzuki heard the smirk in his voice and couldn't help but smile herself.

"So this is the truth? This place is where pirate hunters wait for pirates that are coming to the Grand Line. A hundred hunters? I will be your challenger for tonight, Baroque Work." Zoro revealed.

"How did you know our company's name?" Mr 9 exclaimed as everybody stood in shock.

"When I was a hunter your company sent an agent to ask me to join you, but I rejected. Every employee's past is a secret and everyone calls each other by code name" Zoro stated

"And no one knows who the boss its and where they live. You are a group of mercenaries who follow orders without question" Yuzuki added from the roof behind the group causing them all to look at her.

"That's surprising, that you know our secret. But now we can't let you live. We will add two more gravestones to the cactus mountain" Mr 8 said threateningly.

"Kill him!" the group turned to look at Zoro "EH! He's not there!" they all turned back to look at Yuzuki "What? She's gone too? Where did they go?"

"So" a voice said from within the group "Shall we begin?" Zoro asked rhetorically as he began to fight the large group on his own.

Yuzuki watched from above "Your such a show off Zoro" she said smiling and shaking her head.

More Baroque Workers joined the fray as Zoro disappeared.

"Does he really think he can take on all of us by himself?" Mr 8 said. There were now over two hundred of them gathered together _'I guess he could use my help'_ Yuzuki thought as she jumped down to where Zoro was lurking.

"Hey" she said as she landed, scaring Zoro "Need some help?"

"Tch, don't do that, you nearly scared me" Zoro said annoyed.

"Nearly?" Yuzuki teased. The two waited by the wall out of view of the many people "Their numbers have doubled, just so you know" Yuzuki pointed out.

"Hm, this will be a good chance to test out my swords. I think I'll have some fun after all" he replied "You" he rounded on Yuzuki startling her "Go tell everyone else what's going on, I'll take care of these guys"

Yuzuki screwed up her face "B... but... oh fine!" she exclaimed in defeat, glaring at him. Zoro grinned with victory as she walked off to the bar muttering to herself.

Yuzuki heard the sounds of fighting coming from behind her as she ran, but continued on to where the rest of the crew were sleeping. Something ran past her in the opposite direction that made her stop in her tracks. _'Now I know I've seen that before!'_ she thought turning and following the thing in the direction she just came from.

Yuzuki came upon a curious scene when she had caught up to what she was following. In front of her was a large duck with Miss Wednesday standing next to it, Zoro was further forward with rope around his arms being held by Mr 9, and Mr 8 was on the adjacent roof with guns coming out of his hair.

"If you move, your precious friend will die" Miss Wednesday exclaimed. It was then that Yuzuki noticed Luffy in her clutches, at sword point, with a big belly and snoring loudly.

"Good Miss Wednesday" Mr 9 applauded, "Now you can't fight or get away!" He directed at Zoro.

"Prepare to fire!" Mr 8 said from above.

Zoro's eyes went wide as did Yuzuki's '_What have you gotten yourself into Zoro?'_ Yuzuki thought as acted quickly drawing her katana hilt and transforming it to the kamas while running to the space between Zoro and Mr 8. She twirled the blades quickly making a shield as Zoro tried to dodge the projectiles. Yuzuki made it in time and shielded Zoro and herself from Mr. 8's attack. Zoro sent Mr 9 flying towards Miss Wednesday and Yuzuki cut the ropes binding his arms. He sent Yuzuki a grateful smile before borrowing Luffy's stomach to leap up to where Mr. 8 was standing.

Yuzuki looked at the knocked out figures of Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday and stared at their unconscious forms. _'I remember where I've seen this woman now! She looks so much like that Princess, what's her name? Eh, whatever, this can't possibly be her...'_ she thought as she looked closer at her face.

"Eh? Why am I outside?" she heard Luffy say from behind her. Yuzuki turned to him and was about to say something when Luffy said "I think I have heart burn" causing her to fall over instead "I'm still tired, I think I'll go to sleep again".

"LUFFY!" she roared smacking him over the head "You can't do that know!" she yelled grabbing his shirt and shaking him roughly but it was too late, he had already fallen asleep. Yuzuki suddenly dropped him and listened carefully _'Shit, I think someone's coming'_ she thought as she scrambled to find somewhere to hide and observe what happens. A tall man wearing a long coat with short sticky-outy (a/n ?) hair and sunglasses appeared accompanied by a shorter woman who wore a dress with lemon print, funny earrings and a yellow hat, holding an umbrella, which Yuzuki thought was quite stupid since there was no rain.

"Mr 5! Miss Valentine!" She heard Mr 8 exclaim

'_I guess he's regained consciousness then, that was fast'_ she thought as she heard the so called Mr 5 and Miss Valentine mock him for being defeated. She heard Miss Wednesday and Mr 9 talk too and say that they were glad that the two had come to defeat those who beat them.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mr 5 said "You said that we came to help you?"

"You think we came all the way here just to do that?" Miss Valentine said laughing

"What? What did you come here for then?" Mr 9 asked incredulity

"Boss says 'someone knows my secret, and I don't know what that person knows. Our company's principle is 'everything must be a secret' no-one should know about each other's past or identity. That person know the real identity of our boss and that shouldn't be allowed" the man said giving Yuzuki something to think about.

'_Baroque works' boss... thats some valuable information! And he just spewed it out without a care in the world'_ Yuzuki grinned at her knew found information as her brain started working away.

"When we investigated this we found that there was someone from one country that snuck into Baroque Works" the woman said haughtily. Mr 9 started yelling that it wasn't him and was silenced when Miss Valentine said they knew who it was.

Yuzuki's eyes widened as she realised who they were talking about _'Damn! Luffy's still sleeping right in the middle of them!'_ She saw Mr 8 stand up suddenly and sent a powerful attack towards Mr 5 causing dust to rise and cover them. He told the others to escape but Miss Valentine leapt into action

"That's not going to work" she exclaimed as she attacked Miss Wednesday.

The dust settled to reveal Mr 5 still standing "The traitors are Igaram, leader of the royal guard of Alabasta and the princess of Alabasta Nefertari Vivi"

Yuzuki breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Zoro jump in to snatch up Luffy and carry him to safety. She shook her head at her brother's stupidity of falling asleep in the middle of the road. She wanted to follw them, but was hindered by the fight that broke out. Mr 9 decided that he was going to help Vivi and Igaram escape and Mr 5 did the most disgusting thing Yuzuki had ever seen. He used his boogers as bombs making her shudder in disgust. She shook her head again and removed herself from her 'hiding' spot. Igaram was at Zoro's feet begging him to help save the princess but it looked to her as though Zoro was a bit sceptical.

"Zoro I think we should help them" she told him as she approached

"Where the hell have you been?" she yelled at her

"Around, and I doubt you missed what these guys were talking about" she answered

"Please!" The ex-Mr 8 begged "If you take the princess back to the Kingdom of Alabaster we will repay you with a great prize!"

"A prize you say?" came another voice "How about one million Beli?"

Yuzuki slapped her head with the palm of her hand _'no one but Nami would say that!'_

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**thanks for reading this chapter, review and tell me what you think! anything is welcome!**


	10. Chapter 10

'_How can she think of money at a time like this?'_ Yuzuki thought while staring at said offender.

"EH!" she exclaimed suddenly pointing at the ex-Mr 8 "I recognise you from somewhere..." Yuzuki put her finger to her chin in thought. "hmmmm..." she said as she smiled slightly.

Igaram looked at her incredulously "What ar-"

"You're that man, from Arabaster... What's his name?... Igaram! From the Royal Guard! What are you doing with Baroque Works?" Yuzuki said shrewdly.

Igaram looked at her in shock "How did you know?"

"Well it's not a hard thing to forget..." she trailed off, glancing at his outrageous hair style.

"Will you help us? Please! I will do anything, just save the princess!"

Yuzuki looked down, hiding her smirk. "Come on Zoro" she said suddenly "We got a princess to save"

Zoro grinned at her statement and the two ran off, hopefully in the right direction, towards Vivi and the Baroque Workers.

Zoro jumped between Mr 5 and Vivi, protecting her from his finishing shot.

'_Where the hell are Luffy, Sanji and Usopp?'_ Yuzuki thought as she went to help Vivi get out of the fighter's way.

"You alright Vivi?" Yuzuki asked

"Yes, thank you." Vivi said relieved "Do I know you?" she asked suddenly

"I'm surprised Vivi, I recognised you when I first saw you with Mr 9" Yuzuki said, feigning shock

Vivi looked at her with wide eyes "What?"

"Duck!" Yuzuki yelled pushing Vivi out of the way as an arm flew past them, followed by a roar that sounded like Luffy

"Zoro! How could you do this to these people? They were nice to us and gave us all this food and you beat them all up!" Luffy roared attacking Zoro before he was even able to explain what was happening.

"Luffy!" Yuzuki said pleadingly, but it was too late. Luffy and Zoro were both in their respective serious modes and fighting each other, while Mr 5 and Miss Valentine look confused at the two crew mates fighting. The two Baroque Workers took their opportunity, and while the two males were battling tried to once again capture Princess Vivi.

"I think not" Yuzuki exclaimed as she stood in front of the princess, hands in front of her in a defensive position "You'll have to get through me first"

"Hm" Miss Valentine started "That won't be too hard" she gloated sending an attack towards Yuzuki. She smirked as Yuzuki just stood still; thinking that she had the upper hand, but before she could do anything her hand became frozen in ice.

"Still think it won't be too hard?" Yuzuki said smirking as she manoeuvred the water from her katana sheath into a whip floating in front of herself. From the corner of her eye Yuzuki saw Luffy and Zoro still fighting and Mr 5 trying to sneak past and get to Vivi. Without a second thought she flung the whip towards Mr 5. The whip collided with the tall man and sent him stumbling towards the two Straw Hats who, in turn, angrily sent him flying coincidently into his own partner. Yuzuki blinked a few times "That was the weirdest series of events..." she said aloud before being brought back to reality.

After riding themselves of the two Baroque Workers Luffy and Zoro had gone back to their fighting. "For heaven's sake!" Yuzuki yelled, throwing her water whip at the two fighting males causing them to stop fighting and turn on her instead. They instantly regretted it as she flung more water in their faces. "Now you are going to listen to what's going on instead of fighting for no reason or so help me..."

After the two males calmed down, and the arrival of Nami, Vivi explained her situation, about the country of Arabaster and Baroque Works.

"So who is the guy that's behind all this?" Luffy asked Vivi.

"Ah, I think you're better off not knowing, it will cost you your life!" she exclaimed in reply.

"Haha, it's a good thing you're not telling, he must be an evil man if he conquered a nation" Nami said.

Yuzuki sighed, they couldn't do anything if they didn't know who was behind it.

"That's right. It doesn't matter how good you are, you can't compare to Crocodile, one of the seven Shichibukai." Vivi said. Her eyes widened and her hands went to her mouth at what she had said. Nami looked at her scared and shocked while Luffy was ecstatic at hearing the name and Zoro looked indifferent. Yuzuki stiffened _'Crocodile? This is worse than I thought.'_

The all looked up at the sound of something on the roof and saw an otter and a vulture staring at them. The otter swiftly took out a pen and papers and the sound to scribbling was heard. The otter showed them what he had done; there were four pieces of paper and each had a face of the members of the Straw Hat crew present. The otter put the pieces away, jumped onto the bird and they both flew off. Yuzuki stood there staring at the spot the unusual pair just vacated as Nami's voice could be heard screaming at the people behind her. She shrugged and turned to the other four.

"So this means we are on the Baroque Works wanted list" Zoro said smirking.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

Nami was sulking in the corner, Vivi consoling her. Yuzuki thought he heard something about money and shook her head. She heard a panting sound and turned to see the former Mr. 8 running towards them. He was dress in a costume that made him look, unconvincingly, like Vivi with four mannequins in his arms.

"Don't worry! I have a plan" Igaram said, gaining the attention of the four Straw Hats.

"Igaram! Why are you dressed like that?" Vivi exclaimed

"Wow, your dress looks nice" Luffy complemented, gaining a weird look and a hit on the head from Yuzuki.

Igaram ignored Luffy as he told them his plan. He would distract the Baroque Works by pretending to be Vivi and the dummies would be the Straw Hats while they helped Vivi get back to Alabaster and warn her people.

Yuzuki nodded in agreement with the plan, _'It just may give us the time we need to get her back safely'_

They helped Igaram prepare his ship and he set off to Alabaster.

"He's so cool, even until the last minute" Luffy stated.

"He is the person I can rely on" Vivi said. Yuzuki smiled at her, to which she received one back.

The ship had not travelled far when an explosion sending the ship into a ball of flames. They all stood rooted to the spot, shocked at what happened.

"They figured it out already" Yuzuki said angrily

"That's it! Nami! Is the log pose ready?" Luffy yelled furiously.

"Yes, good to go" she replied steadily.

"Let's grab her and go" Zoro said.

Yuzuki nodded in agreement and slowly walked over to the princess who still stood looking at the burning ship. "Come on Vivi, we must go now. If we don't then this will have all been for nothing" she said to her softly seeing the tears in her eyes. Yuzuki grabbed her and gave her a comforting hug "Don't worry. We will get you to Alabaster safely" she assured her as the princess let the tears flow for her lost friend.

Yuzuki and Zoro were preparing the ship for departure while Luffy had gone to get Sanji and Usopp from where ever they were. She was just running past Vivi and Nami when she saw the princess's face and asked her what was wrong.

"I can't leave Carue here" she answered.

"What's wrong" Zoro yelled at the three women

"Carue has gone missing, she needs to find him" Nami answered quickly, the urge for them to get going was too great for her.

"What, this thing here?" he yelled back, pointing to the large duck "He got here before us"

Yuzuki laughed at Nami and Vivi before continuing her job. Luffy had arrived with a still sleeping Sanji and Usopp and they were ready to put as much distance between them and this island as possiable.

Yuzuki went to inspect the two sleeping Straw Hats while Luffy asked how many people may be following them. She jumped back in surprise as Sanji and Usopp sat up to argue with the rest of the crew about them leaving.

"Be careful not to hit that rock." A new voice said out of the blue from the banister above them. "I'm so glad I found you". Yuzuki and Zoro had turned quickly to look at the newcomer, ready to attack, while Vivi and Nami shocked and Luffy stood ready.

"I just met Mr. 8 over there Miss Wednesday" she stated matter-of-factly.

"You killed Igaram?" Vivi asked, still shocked.

"Who let you on my ship!" Luffy yelled at the woman.

"Miss All Sunday!" Vivi exclaimed

"So who is her partner?" Luffy asked casually.

"Mr 0. She is the boss's partner and the only one who knows about him. I followed her to find out his true identity" Vivi explained to them.

"Is she a good person?" Luffy asked.

"I actually just let you follow me" Miss All Sunday stated simply

"So she's a bad person" Luffy answered his own question

"What do you want from me!" Vivi yelled

"I just thought you worked so hard, so I'm deciding to help you" was the answer "However, for a princess who wants to help her nation deciding to join the Baroque Works was a stupid thing to do"

"Stop insulting me!" Vivi screamed at her. Instantly there was a pistol and a sling-shot pointed at Miss All Sunday from either side.

Yuzuki looked at Miss All Sunday's reaction to them suspiciously _'she looks totally calm, no fear or surprise...' _Suddenly Yuzuki worked out the reason behind the woman's reaction.

"Don't point those things at me. They are dangerous" she said before flinging Sanji and Usopp over the banister and onto the main deck.

Zoro, Nami, and Vivi stood shocked, while Luffy was amazed and Yuzuki tried to figure the woman out.

"A devil's fruit" Yuzuki stated narrowing her eyes at Miss All Sunday.

"What is this power?" Nami cried

"Wow! She is actually really beautiful" Sanji exclaimed from where he fell.

"Calm down. I haven't received any orders yet, so there is no reason to fight you now" Miss All Sunday stated.

All of a sudden, Luffy's hat drifted off into her outstretched hands. "So you are the captain, Monkey D Luffy"

"Give me back my hat! You don't want to mess with me! You are our enemy after all!" Luffy roared.

"You're in for it now!" Usopp yelled from his hiding spot.

"You are unfortunate in that you have to help the princess, but she is also unfortunate in that she only has a few pirates to protect her. Worst of all is the direction you are heading, Little Garden. You might not even make it to Alabaster" she taunted.

"You think by telling us that we won't go? And give me my hat!" Luffy yelled, still angry about his hat.

"Anyone can boast." She tossed something to Vivi "If you have that you can get back easily, it will guide you right back to Alabaster with no trouble."

"Why are you doing this?" Vivi questioned

"I think it's a trap" Zoro stated

"I'll let you decide if it's a trap or not" Miss All Sunday replied simply.

She watched Vivi as she thought of what to do when Luffy reached over and grabbed the log pose out of her hands, crushing it. Yuzuki smirked and looked up to Miss All Wednesday to see her reaction. She narrowed her eyes at the woman, still wearing Luffy's hat _'Well, we can't have that now can we?' _ She decided quickly and before anyone had noticed Yuzuki had dashed up the railing and balanced herself on the banister Miss All Sunday was sitting on. Before the woman even noticed what had happened Yuzuki had cart-wheeled expertly along the banister, plucked the straw hat from her head and landed next to Luffy, who was now getting a berating from Nami.

Miss All Sunday's eyes widened with shock as her hair billowed about her face. She didn't notice that the straw hat was gone from her head until Yuzuki had landed in front of her with it.

"You don't have the right to decide our fate!" Luffy yelled at her.

Miss All Sunday recoverd from her shock quickly "I don't mind a person who has spirit like you. If you're lucky we may meet again" she stood quickly and jumped off the ship. The Straw Hats ran to the railing to see what became of the woman, only to see her atop a giant turtle.

Yuzuki twirled the hat in her hands before passing it to Luffy who grinned at her before accepting it and placing it atop his head. She smiled at her brother, laughing at his laidback nature as the others told Sanji and Usopp what had transpired while they were asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Ok, sorry about the delay, placement and assignments galore! But had a bit of down time today so here is the next chapter! Hope you like it. If you have any ideas that you want me to incorporate into the story PM me and I'll see if i can work it in. Ciao!

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"I'm worrying about what Miss. All Sunday said" Vivi said as the ship drew closer to the next island, Little Garden. The ship was manoeuvred into a narrow strip of water and continued into the island, surrounded by forestry. The crew were discussing the island they were about to make port on, but Yuzuki was lost in thought.

'_If what Miss. All Sunday said was true I'm worried about this island. She seemed a bit suspicious, why would she help us? And to top it off, why does she seem familiar?'_ Yuzuki was so lost in thought that she jumped when a loud noise came from the jungle surrounding them.

"You're so cute Nami-chawan!" Sanji wailed, making Yuzuki smile at his antics.

"Is that a gecko?" Luffy asked as a huge bird soared above the ship. Suddenly, all sorts of sounds started arising from the jungle around them. While Nami and Usopp were persuading the crew to stay on the ship Luffy was busting with excitement.

"Prepare the lunch boxes!" he proclaimed, gaining everyone's attention "I smell an adventure" he finished gleefully before Nami yelled in his face.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where do you think you're going?" she yelled, but there was no persuading him. Sanji went to the kitchen to get the supplies for the excited captain muttering about never changing his mind now that he had already decided.

"Can I come too?" Vivi asked Luffy as he bounced up and down in excitement.

"Sure, just come" was her reply from the eager captain.

"Don't worry, Carue will come with me too" Vivi said to a shocked looking Nami.

"How about you Yuzi?" Luffy asked, using his pet name for her.

Yuzuki scowled at the nick name he used. He had first used it when they were young in Fusha village, where they grew up, and once he found out she hated being called 'Yuzi' he used it to tease her. She didn't know why she hated the name, her brothers thought it sounded cute, but she found that whenever it was said she would get a weird sensation and it made her scowl.

"Actually Luffy I..." she stopped mid sentence as she was caught in a fit of coughs. She brought her hand to her mouth and covered it as she kept coughing, doubling over slightly and wrapping her other arm around herself for some support. Luffy looked at her with concern as the rest of the crew looked on in confusion. Just as quickly as it started Yuzuki's coughing stopped and she straightened up again like nothing happened. "Ah, I think I'll stay here. I wanted to research a few things too... about Baroque Works and... yea" she said, quickly walking to the women's quarters and closing the door behind her, leaving a confused crew in her wake.

Yuzuki took a shaky breath as she open up her hand that she used to cover her cough to find blood. She sighed putting her other hand to her head and massaging her eyes with her thumb and finger, walking to the bathroom to clean herself up. _'This is going to be problematic. I don't have any medication left so the symptoms are going to start showing soon. And we need to get Vivi to Alabaster as soon as possible, who knows what Crocodile is getting up to'_

She was broken from her thoughts when she heard a commotion from outside. She went to investigate only to see Sanji and Zoro running into the jungle while Nami and Usopp were sitting crying by the railing. She rose and eyebrow in confusion at the scene before her.

"So I can't rely on you then?" Usopp asked Nami.

"I should be saying that!" Nami replied angrily making Yuzuki laugh. The two fearful crew members looked up at her and cried again.

"Our saviour! We are not alone!" Usopp cried as he ran to hug his saviour. Yuzuki promptly put her hand out to stop him while asking Nami where the others went.

"Zoro and Sanji went to get food" was her sort reply before falling quiet. Yuzuki leant against the banister looking at the sky while Usopp kept giving her weird looks.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yuzuki asked quietly, still looking towards the heavens.

"N... n... nothing" he said quickly, looking away.

"But wait... it sounds familiar. I can't remember if I've read it before" Nami said to herself, spiking Usopp's interest.

"What is?" Usopp asked

"Little Garden" Nami replied, still thinking. She stood up abruptly, shocking Usopp, and ran to the bookshelf the ship had on the lower deck. Yuzuki watched as she did this, jumping over the banister and sitting in the spot Nami had just vacated. She heard the sounds of Nami quickly flicking trough books and discarding those that weren't helpful until she ran out yelling.

"Yuzuki! Usopp!"

"Wh... what? You found the book?" Usopp asked getting up from his spot.

"This island is..." Nami started, getting increasingly scared every moment and ended up just showing Usopp the page she read. Usopp dropped the book in fear and both screamed at the top of their lungs. Yuzuki looked at them weirdly as they clung on to her, Nami on the right and Usopp on the left. She glanced over at the page they were just reading

'_...For the people who live here, this place is a little garden for them. Little Garden is an island for giants. From the pioneer, Louis Arnold...'_

"Giants..." Yuzuki whispered inciting a scream from the two clinging to her for dear life. She rolled her eyes at them. Roars and growls started surrounding them and Nami and Usopp were frozen in fear.

Suddenly the trees in front of them parted and a giant appeared, towering above them.

"Do you have any rum?" the giant's voice boomed as he looked at them. The ship miniscule in comparison to the giant.

Nami and Usopp were frozen in shock and fear. Yuzuki carefully prised the two off her and stood up, looking at the giant.

"We might" Yuzuki stated simply, as Nami and Usopp cowered behind her.

"Oooh! So you have some, right?" the giant asked gleefully, coming down to their level. His face was directly in front of Yuzuki, but she stood strong, a thoughtful look on her face. The giant suddenly yelled, the smell of his breath making Yuzuki gag and scaring Nami and Usopp further. The giant looked behind him, while Usopp, Nami and Yuzuki looked around him to see what was there. What they saw shocked them all.

"What the?" Yuzuki muttered to herself.

"D... dino... dino" Usopp whimpered.

"Dinosaur" Nami said quietly. Tears coming forth as fear gripped the latter two.

The giant quickly turned around to face the dinosaur raising his huge axe. The poor dinosaur had no time to react when his head was neatly chopped off and flew into the air only to be caught by the giant.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Usopp and Nami screamed, hiding themselves behind Yuzuki who gripped her weapon ready to fight if the giant turned on them. Instead what they got was a proclamation from the giant.

"I am the strongest fighter of Elubabu! Brogy The Great! Haha!" the giant, named Brogy, proclaimed. "I have some meat now. I will treat you to a meal, my guests" Brogy said, showing them the dinosaur head. On the deck, Nami and Usopp were playing dead, holding an unconscious Yuzuki between them.

"I can't believe you knocked me out!" Yuzuki muttered, angrily glaring at Nami and rubbing the sore spot on the back of her head.

"We had to play dead! That giant killed a dinosaur like it was nothing!" Nami replied nervously. The giant was trying to get them to eat the meat he had acquired from the dinosaur he had killed and from the corner of her eye, Nami could see skulls. Nami and Usopp were thinking the same thing _'he's going to eat us, just like giants usually do'_ while the giant offered them the meat. Yuzuki shrugged her shoulders and reached for the meat offered by the giant, receiving fearful looks from her companions.

"Mr. Brogy, can I ask you something?" Yuzuki asked, holding the meat in her hands.

"Huh? What is it?" Brogy enquired as he ripped a piece of meat of the bone he was holding, causing Nami and Usopp to flinch.

"How long does it take for the log pose to lock on to the magnetic waves on Little Garden?" Yuzuki asked him.

"One year" Brogy replied causing the three to fall over in shock "So make yourselves at home" he said happily.

"So are you alone on this island?" Yuzuki asked him, unknown to her that her brother was asking the same of the giant he had met.

"I am originally from the village of Elubabu, somewhere in the Grand Line. We have a rule in our village, if a fight occurs and no one says sorry we will listen to Elubabu's god, because Elubabu is always right, and he will give the verdict. I am waiting for the result. This is the island where I'm fighting with another. The right person will become the winner and he will live." He told them "But it's already been one hundred years and we still don't know who has won! Haha!"

Usopp's eyes bulged "One hundred years?"

"Don't fret, our lifespan is three times that of a human" Brogo replied laughing. Suddenly the ground started to shake and smoke started wafting from the mountain nearby.

"Ah! The volcano is erupting!" Nami exclaimed.

"I have to go" Brogy stated as he stood up "The volcano signals the time to fight again."

"Why are you fighting? Surely after one hundred years you have forgotten about the reason you started?" Usopp exclaimed. The giant gave them a glance before thundering off into the jungle raising his axe as he went.

"Pride..." Yuzuki whispered. "It's about his pride. Even though he has forgotten the reason, he fights now for pride" she told Usopp as he looked on in awe. They could see two giants fighting over the treetops and heard the clang of their weapons as they fought.

"This is our chance you guys" Nami said, trying grab Yuzuki's hand.

"No, no, no. I'm not going anywhere with you. That's twice you've tried to kill me!" Yuzuki yelled, digging her feet into the ground.

"This is so great" Usopp said, causing the two girls to look at him "Fighting without cause. This is a real mans fight!"

"That's the most stupid thing I've ever seen" Nami told him, still trying to drag Yuzuki with her.

"Don't you get it? This is a fight about real pride and honour as a real fighter and a real man" Usopp told her

"I don't care about that. We'd better get out of here now" Nami said nonchalantly.

"I want to stay a while" Usopp told her, earning a smile from Yuzuki who sat down next to him. Nami have a disapproving sigh before joining Yuzuki.

"This is exactly what I want to be. A great warrior of the sea. I want to grow up to be proud and honourable just like them." He stated. Yuzuki gave him an encouraging smile.

"You want to be a giant?" Nami said ruining the moment. Yuzuki frowned at her while Usopp yelled that she hadn't been listening to anything he had been saying.

The clangs of fighting were still heard until a final clash and the two giants collapsed. After sharing some rum with the other giant, who went back to his side of the island, Brogy sat down to talk with his three Straw Hat guests.

Yuzuki tuned out the conversation Usopp and Brogy were having about pride and honour, she wasn't very interested in 'man fights'. Looking back on her own battles she had always had a reason for them and wondered what she would do if she ever forgot the reason she fought. The volcano violently started smoking again and the giant prepared himself for his next encounter with Dorry, the other giant.

"You're going to fight again? What about your injury?"

"Don't be silly, we both got injuries last time. Both of us risk our lives in this fight, don't use such lame excuses to postpone our fight!" he proclaimed as he went off to meet his companion for the next fight.

"Let's go back to the ship. If it takes one year for the log pose to set we need to find out how we are going to get out of here." Nami implored.

Nami dragged Usopp behind her as he was in a daze about becoming great one day. Yuzuki sighed at the two, why did she have to be stuck with them? She coughed twice before grinning and following them into the jungle. It wasn't long before the trio hit trouble.

"Ahhh! Dinosaur!"

Yuzuki huffed as Nami and Usopp ran off screaming, leaving her to deal with the incoming dinosaur. It wouldn't have been after them if it wasn't for the two making so much noise. Yuzuki unsheathed the hilt and transformed it into the scythes before running towards the giant dinosaur. The dodged the incoming hits from the head and manoeuvred herself close to the body of the dinosaur before slashing at its legs and aiming at the chest of the beast to impale it. She cursed to herself as she rushed to get out of the way as her giant opponent toppled over. She had no time to think about the dinosaur when she heard a scream. _'That sounded like Nami!'_ Yuzuki thought as she dashed off to find out what had happened.

As Yuzuki ran in the direction she heard Nami's scream she heard another yell, closer to her. She quickly changed course in the direction of the most recent in hopes of finding one of her crew mates. After a bit of running she slowed down, clutching her chest _'Damn, I can't over exert myself, or else it will just get worse'_ she thought as she coughed a few more times. She turned her head from left to right before doing a double take when she saw something white. Curious, she walked over towards the odd white object in the forest of green. As she approached she saw that the white object was in fact a large box looking house, if you could call it that. It only looked big enough to be one room, not enough for anyone to live in. As she got closer she realised that it looked to be made of wax. Yuzuki inspected the outside for a moment before she heard the sound of something running towards her. She instantly got into fighting stance with her weapon ready to be activated when out from the jungle jumped a large feline looking beast. The odd thing about the beast was that it had a large lump on its head, as though someone had hit it hard.

"Eh? Yuzuki-hime!" she heard a voice exclaim, coming to the conclusion of who it was before he showed himself.

"Oh, Sanji. How was your competition?" she asked as he leapt of the giant beast.

"Huh? Oh, the hunting competition? I'm sure I beat that marimo head" he muttered the last bit but Yuzuki still heard and sniggered at his competitiveness with the swordsman "But when I got to the ship all of you had disappeared." Yuzuki nodded at his explanation and was about to tell him what had happened but he still had something to add "I knew that you needed my help Yuzuki-himi, so I have come to rescue you!" Sanji wailed while Yuzuki sweat dropped.

"Actually, it's not me that's in trouble Sanji." Yuzuki told Sanji about what had happened since she had left the ship and he listened intently "An I came across this obscure thing" she said pointing at said structure "and was about to investigate when you showed up" she finished.

"Ah, I see. Shall we see what we have here then?" he asked, almost seriously "Ladies first" he said opening the door for her. She gave him a look and wondered if he even though about what he had just said.

"You know, letting a woman go first into an unknown place could be dangerous. What if there was a dangerous person in there just waiting to attack the next person to walk though?" she asked, faking distress as she walked through the threshold. Sanji's eyes widened as he realised his mistake and tried to get in front of her before she entered, but it was too late and she had already entered the structure.

"I'll save you Yuzuki-hime!" he yelled as he ran into the building after her. Instead of saving Yuzuki he seemed to have done more harm as when he barged in he failed to notice the chair near the door and immediately tripped in his haste to save her. In doing so he fell onto Yuzuki who also fell only to hit her head on the nearby table and then the ground. Sanji gasped when he saw Yuzuki on the ground, wincing and holding her head.

"Who did this to you? I'll kill them!" he proclaimed standing up and running over to Yuzuki to help he up. He helped her into a chair and preceded to rifle though the contents of the room to find things to help her, muttering about killing anyone who would harm his 'precious Yuzuki-hime'. She smiled at his protectiveness of her and becoming comfortable with him as well as the rest of the crew. She smiled at the thought of how she was comfortable with the crew and how they were turning out to be more like a family, helping each other in times of need. She was sure she would have never found nakamaship like this in the Marines. In the end Sanji found some tea that could help with the head injury and brewed some fore Yuzuki and himself.

"I wonder why this room is in the middle of the jungle" Sanji said aloud

"Did you notice Sanji?" Yuzuki asked, gaining his attention "This place is made of wax, the outside as well as the inside. On top of that, it looks quite fresh and new. Meaning that there are other people on this island"


End file.
